COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS 


MEMORIAL COLLECTION 


TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY 


N.C. 


DURHAM 


Established by the family of 


COL. GEM@RGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS 


gen gy Sh gis eae Nip ae iat 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2023 with funding from 
Duke University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/andrewjacksonear31heis 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


Seventh President of the United States. From portrait hanging in the White House. Copyright by Bureau 
of National Literature, Inc., New York. N. Y 


ANDREW JACKSON 


AND 


EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ILLUSTRATED 


By S. G. HEISKELL, 
A TENNESSEAN, 
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 


““A veteran host, by veterans led, 
With Ross and Cockburn at their head, 
They came—they saw—they burned—and fied! 


“They left our Congress naked walls— 
Farewell to towers and capitols! 
To lofty roofs and splendid halls! 


““To conquer armies in the field 
Was, once, the surest method held 
To make a hostile country yield. 


“The warfare now the invaders make 
Must surely keep us all awake, 
Or life is lost for freedom’s sake.”’ 
—Philip Freneau. 


IN THREE VOLUMES 
Vol. 3. - 


NASHVILLE, TENN. 
AMBROSE PRINTING COMPANY 
ee 


Errata Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History. 


VOLUME 1. 


Page 32, third line read ‘‘State Legislature”’ for ‘“Territorial Legislature’’. 
Page 26, ninth line read ‘‘east side’’ for “‘South side’. 
Page 194, sixth line read ‘‘any government’’ for the ‘‘United States Govern- 


ment’’. 


Page 372, tenth line read ‘“‘Ben Jonson’”’ for ‘‘Ben Johnson’’. 
Page 392, eleventh line from the bottom omit the words ‘‘on January 1, 


1880’’. 


Page 621, thirteenth and fourteenth lines from the bottom omit the words 


“Col. Chester was only 81 years old at the time’’. 


Page 646, seventh line from the bottom insert the words ‘‘thought to be’’ 


immediately’ after the word “‘army’’. 


VOLUME 2. 


Page 66, first line of second paragraph from the bottom read as the date 


of the Ft. Mims massacre ‘‘August 30, 1813’’ for “‘August 30, 1814’’. 


Page 66, third line read ‘‘August 2, 1813’’ for ‘‘August 2, 1814’’. 
Page 66, thirteenth line read ‘“‘September 12, 1813’’ for ‘“‘September 12, 


1814”. 


The battles of Talluschatches and Talladega were fought in 1813 and the 


battles of Emuckfau and Enotochopco in 1814. 


The Battle of the Horse-shoe was on March 27, 1814. 
Page 114, the date June 8, 1792 set out on the memorial slab in Tunis, Africa, 


as the birthday of John Howard Payne is an error. His birthday 
was June 9, 1791 as stated in the text page 113 and also on the monument 
erected by Mr. Corcoran in 1883 in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington. 


Page 113, thirteenth line from the bottom read ‘“‘grand-daughter’’ for 


“neice’’. 


Page 193, read ‘‘1824’’ as the date of Jackson’s first candidacy for Presi- 


dent instead of 1825, 


Page 199, twelfth line read ‘‘Cave Johnson”’ for ‘‘Cave Thompson’’. 
Page 509, fifteenth line from the bottom read ‘‘Elbridge Gerry”’ for “‘El- 


dridge Gerry’’. 


COPYRIGHT, 1918 
COPYRIGHT, 1920 
COPYRIGHT, 1921 


By Ss. G. HEISKELL 


FRONTISPIECE 


ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOLUME 3 


EU CTI MIN TE meee ety ees ee en Ie eee eS Ae a 


eeAa hy. Weadock .-.--+2-.---- Meena) epee ee he OR LA un i. Fo 


Abraham DePeyster_-_-__- rhe SENN gS BL a A RE Ye a ac 


ANUGKET JOC OOS fe ee SS 2) eee eee 


RAEKES Wal LO KS Ol emia ens we ee ny es) Ey eee i Ee 2 


SIGNS VA ACKG Olle mer terete tal eee Bee ee ee alg 


U2RIOS MIO TIOl. Goes See Bee ee ae Sa ee eee ee eee ae 


RAIL EW. 7 AC KS OM meee Mek cee tL Re es he 


William H. Crawford 
John Howard Payne 


Monument of John Howard Payne 


‘Wine JERS eyo. i a eee Gi ie Ak saan ES a wp me ee 


The Original Hermitage 
Tomb of Jackson 
Mrs. Andrew Jackson 
LW eure, (Corie = ts EN ERs RS bn Oy aren at | SR SE eee Oe 
W. G. Brownlow 
EASE MEN ih FEV OY a NS A apn Se 
PTI LEW AC KGOTI seca ne lent BC) se je oP PE SB eek ae 


PTC Eenvual] ACS Olleee eee ete ee ee ae te Ry ay ee Sh 5 RAS Bt 2 


Andrew Jackson 


Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox 


Andrew Jackson 


Mrs. Andrew Jackson 


Nicholas Biddle 


Andrew Jackson 


FacinG 
PAGE 


20 
23 
29 
50 
60 
78 
88 
93 
93 
116 
125 
135 
162 
181 
189 
201 
203 
227 
243 
261 
269 
273 
280 
291 
295 
313 


2 ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOLUME 3. 


FACING 
PAGE 

Peggy O'Neal hei oe Modu a Oi ia a ale a aa 318 
Andrew. Jackson) ci 21) ut ea ie We UNE aac 12 Se ee 325 
ariel DD)? Trg hare) cere DC ena OS aE See en 339 
William) Dirare) 22 See) i a A ee ee 339 
Roger. Brook: Taney 2 bs alin te ele 346 
Rewris | Gases cu ky 8 OS oe TU RI 1 IE I il i rr 353 
Wei CC y Claiborne: ai ievis lie Wee ey 0S ANE aul a0 353 
NOV dieuan ies OU ner ore ee Naha Sui UR a ee Ui ea 360 
Bdward Livingstone i! Sick iMate NNN Sa ee ee 360 
Rober tt Yi. Ebaiyane = 2 Sieh Nuh SE ALT aU Ri ihe ea OUR a a 1 365 
James Hamilton, Jaro) so oe Ue Sec Cli EL eee 372 
John Forsythe jo 222.2 ke Ey) 381 
John Branch! Wis 6. so emul Ry A he Ge ee 381 
Andrew, Jacksonat f= wn eli) 20h tN EE Tear 396 
Robert! Y.. Haynes 25 sO Wane abe RAT vel helena Jel a a 396 
Water Scene of Upper East. Tennessee__2_---_-)_ 3_____ ee 400 
Mahlon Dickerson iets 620 Supe 2) BEN Bs fa) Baer ULE See et 410 
John IM: Berrie se UP NN Aa aR op a0 da ee ay WALID a ae Be 410 
Lewis Cass______- ele UT Oe 416 
BUS) Mec Taste oi 0h SAE SIA Pe al A ae aa Ry ys ee 416 
Church Binlt by Andrew) Jackson) 2242) 03). 2 424 
Andrew Jacksonl 2000020 UA UN ate te 1) 432 
Mrs. Andrew Jaekson: 20 oO. Ae) ae) al ee 440 
Andrew JacksoniiCoffeesd. 35. SIS e Ne ee ee 451 
Martini an Brine mse 4 Sig aR Me We ay 0) Vite eR, a ae gs eae eee 457 
Andrew Jacksons 20 Gee d ye Woe ae Die ARIE Sh oye Le NO a 465 
obi: CH Calo tri Se AM eG aa pee OE COR Ler PM eal A 488 
George: Wie Severe a2 ae Nae apa AVY MRO ICM 500 


Mavierloroevier, Coatior Aber sulan nm Mi Ucn ee Gen Le elo une 0 00S A 512 


ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOLUME 3. 3 


FACING 
PAGE 

O ROR ETUC tLe) oes eS ee Se eee ee See 517 
ODA Teg en ee a a BE ee eee eee 530 
Panterasunr Wetter Of snl evier = 322 ia ee te ee 540 
ETD EES ea ee ee ae ee ee 562 
PFET LET AD Te eae cle he are es es ee 562 
Orn PES Es GeO Sts ae ee el Ce ae 597 
wl ESET DGS TS a ee ee 2h eae a eens ee 625 
Eipeete eItenE AF Co lrttmiet pe 220" 206) eae Sh oe 656 
Sete Teatckre isacie Hei y! eet ay) N ae Ss ee 666 
eer aan ene rg re eget ee NG ats 677 
Sierras sie Miaye i Bee eh oa a ge 679 
aime Whitchonse, Washington__..... --.. =... 690 
eer: WT Rees ae, ae et ee 700 
Anne Jennings—Mrs. Henry A. Wise_____________________________ 700 


176607 


PREFACE TO VOLUME 3. 


This volume completes the work Andrew Jackson and Early 
Tennessee History and I feel that it is due the public to extend 
thanks for the very cordial reception given it during the past three 
years. It has been sold in forty-two States, the Canal Zone and 
Paris, France, and many strong testimonials and endorsements 
have been sent me from various parts of the United States. Old 
friends who helped in the last edition rendered material aid in this 
and new friends came forward also. 

My thanks are tendered to Hon. John K. Shields, Col. John 
B. Brownlow, Capt. Wm. Rule, Judge Hugh L. McClung, J. 
Harry Price, Miss Mary U. Rothrock, Mrs. Inez Deaderick, Miss 
Mary Nelson, Mrs. Tapley Portlock, Hon. L. D. Smith, Hon. 
James Maynard and Miss May Rogers all of Knoxville; 

To Milton B. Ochs of Chattanooga; 

To Hon. John W. Gaines, Mrs. Bettie M. Donelson, Col. 
John Trotwood Moore, W. E. Beard, and Miss Will Allen Drom- 
goole, all of Nashville; 

To Adolph S. Ochs of New York; Col. Sam King and Mrs, 
Blanche Laffitte of Bristol, Tenn.; Wm. Heiskell Brown and 
Miss Sophie Brown of Greeneville, Tenn.;-Dean Albert C. Holt 
of Tusculum College near Greeneville; Dr. Archibald Henderson 
of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Mr. Sam’l M. 
Wilson, Lexington, Kentucky; Hon. T. A. E. Weadock of Detroit, 
Michigan; Mrs. Sarah W. N. Leonard of Baltimore, Maryland; Hon, 
Gideon Morgan of Mayes County, Oklahoma; Mr. and Mrs. W. O. 
Hart of New Orleans, Louisiana; E. W. Hughes and Miss Myrtle 
Leonard of Washington County, Tennessee; Congressional Libary, 
Washington, D. C.; Newberry Library, and Arthur Meeker, Chi- 
cago; Otto Bernet of the American Art Association of New York 
and Bureau of National Literature, New York, H. M. Williams, 
President. 

I am more and more convinced that the proper way to write 
history and the most efficient way to study it, is through complete 
documents, and hence there are introduced entire here some of 


PREFACE 


the strongest of Jackson’s State Papers. ‘These papers are known 
to but few Americans and have been seen by a less number, yet a 
study of them is necessary to anything like an adequate appre- 
hension of the great force and patriotic strength of Jackson as a 
man and of the moves of his two administrations. 

So entire documents of other kinds have been inserted here 
which were fast growing scarce, with total extinction by time or 
fire or accident evidently not faraway. _ 

May I be permitted to express the opinion that I have presented 
here a juster estimate of Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Peggy O’Neal 
and Hon. W. G. Brownlow, and have created a better historical 
setting for all three. The treatment accorded to Mrs. Jackson 
and Peggy O’Neal is among the super infamies of politicians and 
newspapers of Jackson’s day. I have examined every scrap of 
evidence affecting the character of both and find not a whisper 
against Mrs. Jackson except the trip of Jackson with Mrs. Ro- 
bards and some of her friends on a boat to Natchez. This of 
course, according to Mrs. Grundy’s code of social ethics was un- 
pardonable, and by those who tremble at Mrs. Grundy’s frown, 
must be conceded to be indiscreet. But that would never have 
been thought of if the rumored divorce had turned out to be true, 
or if Jackson had never been a candidate for president. This 
$ave Jackson’s enemies a club to strike with and the slander fac- 
tories material to operate on. 

The assaults on Peggy O’Neal’s character were investigated 
by both friend and foe, and the charges against her found not to 
have even one leg to stand on. Two unscrupulous preachers, 
J. W. Campbell at Washington and E. S. Ely in Philadelphia, 
were two of the busiest calumnators. Campbell collected some 
slanderous gossip, carried it to Ely and procured him to carry it 
to Jackson and that started the investigation. Ely himself went 
to New York to investigate the hotel register which he had told 
Jackson, on the authority of Campbell, gave the evidence of Maj. 
Eaton and Peggy having registered there as man and wife, and 
found Campbell’s charge baseless. It was with a view to sound 
to the bottom all of the venerable slanders against Mrs. Eaton 
that I read everything tangible or evidential alleged against her, 
and have reproduced the many pages that appear in this volume 
so that the reader can form an opinion for himself. 

So far as Gov. Brownlow is concerned no one writer, whatever 
his force or learning, can at this day eliminate all the prejudice 


PREFACE 


against him in many sections of the country. It will have to be 
left to the slow process of time. Union men and their descend- 
ants will laud the Governor forever; secessionists and their descend- 
ants will condemn him. His fame is inseparately bound up in 
the controversy of Union against Secession, and as the champions 
of secession mellow in their opinions, so will they mellow toward 
Brownlow. In their bitterness toward him because he was a 
Union man, his enemies have always ignored the fact that in all 
respects except the preservation of the Union, Brownlow was a 
southern man through and through. He was an out-spokey 
champion of slavery and was himself a slave-holder. He was bitter 
but everybody was bitter in that vast contest of war. He was one 
of the best hated men in all history, and also one of the most lavish- 
ly praised, and both on account of a public question. Few per- 
sonal charges were made against him. His personal integrity 
could not be questioned. He was simple in habits and appearance 
and fully looked the part of a Methodist preacher all over, which 
he was. The kindliest of neighbors, he was charitable to those 
in want and in all personal relations a model citizen. I never saw 
the Governor but twice; once in the last illness of my father when 
he called one Sunday afternoon to pay his respects; and once in 
1876 in Staub’s Theatre in Knoxville, when Henry S. Foote, a for- 
mer member of the Confederate Congress, was making a speech 
for Hayes and Wheeler, as an Elector for the State at Large in 
Tennessee, when Gov. Brownlow, in bad health, was lying on a 
couch on the stage. 

In Eastern Tennessee, occupied as it was successively by the 
Confederate and Unions armies, there was infinite bitterness, 
followed by reprisals by both sides, and with Brownlow’s terrific 
denunciation of disunion men, it has always been a wonder to me 
he was not killed a hundred times. 


A FAREWELL 


I think I may confide to the reader that the completion of 
this third volume marks the fruition of an expectation of a life- 
time, indulged in from boyhood and the fulfillment of which never 
for a moment was ever doubted, namely, that the time would come 
when I would be the author of a work or works on some historical 
or economical subject. baa ty 

My father decreed that I should be a lawyer, my mother wanted 


PREFACE 


me to follow the footsteps of her brother and become an Episcopal 
minister, and I wanted to be a college professor and write books. 
My father’s views, of course, prevailed, and I became a lawyer. 

Being the first born of a desire to write books that I hoped 
might be found worthy of being read, this work is, like the first 
born always is in the family circle, greatly cherished, and whatever 
its demerits may be, and I am afraid they are many, I present it 
especially to students and also to the general reading public, and 
will hail the verdict with great joy should it be found to throw 
some little light that is new upon the Jackson period, one of the 
greatest in American history. 


Knoxville, Tenn., October 15, 1921. 
S. G. HEISKELL. 


CONTENTS OF VOLUME 3 


CuaprerR 1. Act of North Carolina ceding to the United ‘States 
the present state of Tennessee; Act of Congress declaring war 
between England and the United States; Gold Medal for Jack- 
son; letter of Mrs. Sarah W. N. Leonard, great grand-daughter 
of Governor John Sevier, on Governor Sevier’s religious views; 
letter of 1793 of Col. James King to General John Sevier; letter 
by Major Jno. Reed on a visit by General Jackson and himself 
to the tomb of Washington; letter by Davy Crockett setting 


forth his hostile opinion of Jackson; correspondence between 
E. W. Hughes and Miss Myrtle Leonard of Washington County, 


Tennessee, with the author, in reference to the ‘“‘Boone Tree’’, 
in Washington County; sketch of Hon. T. A. E. Weadock, De- 
troit, Michigan; United States Senator James A. Reid’s speech 
at funeral of ex-speaker Champe Clark; poem ‘‘The Hermitage”’ 
by Will Allen Dromgoole; Nashville Banner, Feb. 27, 1921_____ 
CHAPTER 2. ‘“The Affair at King’s Mountain’’, an article giving 
the British version of that battle, by John Watts de Peyster, 
nephew of Abraham de Peyster, second in command at the 
ttle: Chet A eos Se II ee eet RS _ ee Se 
CuaprerR 3. Letters of living persons who saw Andrew Jackson; 
Jackson’s resignation from the United States Senate; his views 
on the tariff in 1824; his reply to the charge of being a “‘Military 
Chieftan’’; letter from Hon. James Maynard of Knoxville to 
the author; Jackson’s letter declining appointment of Minister 
ST Goo! gf pees ae ON ORS Sie! “2S es oe ee aaa ee 
CuapTeR 4. Correspondence between President James Monroe and 
Andrew Jackson in October, November and December, 1816____ 
CuarpteR 5. The Official proceedings of the Court Martial that 
condemned Arbuthnot and Ambrister to death, which finding 
was approved by General Jackson— = ° 9 25. <n et 
CuapTeR 6. John Howard Payne, author of ““‘Home Sweet Home’’, 
made a prisoner by the Georgia State Guard; extracts from his 
communication in Knoxville Register on his imprisonment; he 
is endorsed by public meeting at Knoxville; letter to his sister; 
offered a public entertainment at Knoxville but declines.______ 


29- 49 


50- 77 


116-134 


CHAPTER 7. Letters beginning in 1808 from and to Andrew Jackson_ 135-150 


CHAPTER 8. Poem on Andrew Jackson published in 1842 by W. 
Wallace, Esq.; address of Daniel Webster at New York Histor- 
ical Society on death of Jackson; poem ‘“‘Welcome to General 
Jackson’”’ by Mrs. Adams, quoted from Knoxville Register of 
March 4, 1829; poem ‘‘Jackson’’ by Ella Bently Arthur; poem 
“Memories of General Jackson’’ published Auburn, New York, 
1845; poem ‘‘The Hero Sleeps’’, Auburn, New York, 1845; ed- 
itorial on Mrs. Rachel Jackson in Knoxville Register May 27, 
1829; action of the Board of Aldermen of Knoxville, December 


(5) 


6 CONTENTS 


29, 1828, on the death of Mrs. Jackson; ‘‘Dirge to the memory 
of Mrs. Jackson’’, by Dr. James McHenry; Refutation of charg- 
es on Mrs. Jackson in 1827; action of Nashville authorities on 
her death; Adjutant General’s report on General John Coffee; 
Goy. C. C. Claiborne to Gen. Coffee; Gen. Coffee’s reply; let- 
ters from Jacksom:= == 5): 20 33) i 181-202 


leaves Tennessee on a tour of the North; quotations from his 

speeches; visits the Hermitage; early religious history of Ten- 

nessee; his published books; discussion on slavery with Rev. 

Abram Pryne in Philadelphia; doctrinal controversies with Rey. 

J. R..Graves and Rev. Frederick A. Ross; Brownlow a Union 

slaveholder and advocate of slavery... leo LL eee 
CHAPTER 10. Narrative of the life, travels and circumstances in- 

cident thereto, of William G. Brownlow, written by himself.___ 227-272 
CHAPTER 11. Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox on Rachel Donelson 

Jackson, wife of General Jackson, and on numerous facts and 

incidents connected with Jackson, the Donelson family and 

Jackson's two Administrations! -2 2 2 eee 273-290 
CHAPTER 12. Jackson’s Cabinets, State Papers, first Inaugural 

address, Bank Veto, second Inaugural address, Message on Tex- 

as atid Mexico: yo de a he ee ee 291-317 
CHapTeER 13. Life and history of Peggy O’Neal; her own story in 

interview in the National Republican of Washington in 1874; 

resignation of Major J. H. Eaton from the Cabinet; Jackson’s 

reply to Major Eaton; correspondence between Major Eaton 

and Secretary of the Treasufy, S. D. Ingham; Ingham to 

Jackson; Jackson to Col. Campbell of the U. S. Treasury and 

others; their reply.223220 25.3 52932) See 318-345 
CuHapTER 14. Sam Houston visits Washington in 1831; invited by 

citizens of Nashville to accept a public dinner, he declined; 

full text of his speech before Congress in defense of himself for 

his assault on Congressman William Stanberry, of Ohio. Speech 

quoted from Knoxville Repister = 2252) ee 346-364 
CHarTerR 15. Nullification: Ordinance of South Carolina nulli- 

fying Acts of Congress; address of Convention in South Carolina 

to the people of the United States; Jackson’s proclamation on 

the nullification question December 11, 1832; inaugural address 

of Gov. Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina; Gov. Hayne’s 


proclamation-._¢ 2. 22 Yee a eee Se ee ee 365-415 
CHAPTER 16. Jackson’s paper read to his Cabinet September 18, 

11833; on “Removal ofthe Wepositci =e oe 416-431 
CHAPTER 17. Jackson’s “‘Protest’’, April 15, 1834, on the Senate’s 

Resolution of Censure for moving the Deposits._______________ 432-456 
CHAPTER 18. Martin Van Buren and his Autobiography.__________ 457-487 
CuHapTeR 19. Letters to and from Martin Van Buren; taken from 

the Congressional Library in Washington.__________________ 488-516 


CHapTER 20. Letters beginning in 1833 from and to Andrew Jackson. 517-561 
CHAPTER 21. Oration of Stephen A. Douglas at the inauguration of 


CONTENTS 


Mills’ equestrian statue of General Jackson in Washington, Jan. 
8, 1853; Oration of L. J. Sigur, Esq., Jan. 9, 1856, at New Or- 
leans, at the inauguration of Mills’ equestrian statue of General 
Jackson; origin of the statue and the monument at Chalmette; 
oration of W. O. Hart of the Louisiana Historical Society at the 
the eighty-third anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans.____ = 
CHAPTER 22. Appeal to the public in 1831 by Major John H. Eaton 
in reply to Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien in the Peggy 
O’Neal-Eaton controversy. A carefully prepared defense of 
his wife whose character had been made a political issue.______ 
CHapTeR 23. Funeral oration by Honorable Ephraim H. Foster of 
Tennessee in the McKendree Church in Nashville on the occasion 
of the honoring of the obsequies of Henry Clay, July 28, 1852____ 
CHapTeR 24. Celebration in New Orleans of one hundred years of 
peace, 1815-1915, and of the Battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8 to 
Jan. 10, 1915; oration by S. M. Wilson, Lexington, Kentucky.___ 
CHAPTER 25. Rev. James S. Gallaher, pioneer preacher, knew Old 
Hickory personally and gives his opinion of him. ——S__-_______ 
CHAPTER 26. Jackson’s ““Farewell Address’’ on March 4, 1837, the 
date of his retirement from the presidency._____________-_-___- = 


be) | 


562-396 


397-638 


639-635 


636-678 


679-689 


690-705 


BROWNLOW’'S CALL ON JACKSON. 


W. G. Brownlow, when a Methodist Minister, was a 
Delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church which met in Philadelphia in May, 
1832, when Jackson was President and, en route, stopped 
over in Washington, and, with other Ministers, called 
on the President. This is his account of the call: 

“On my way to Philadelphia, I spent a week in the 
city of Washington, in visiting the different parts of the 
city, and in listening to the debates in Congress. While 
in Washington, in company with some ten or a dozen 
clergymen, I visited the President's house, also, and was 
honored by an introduction to Gen. Jackson. He had 
just recovered from a slight state of indisposition. He 
sat with Mr. Livingston, the then secretary of state, 
examining some papers, when we entered, and though 
paler than usual, I was struck with the fidelity of the 
common portraits I have seen of him. Alexander's, I 
think, however, is the best by far, and his reflection in 
the mirror is not more like him. He rose with a digni- 
fied courtsy to receive us, and conversed freely and agree- 
ably; till, unfortunately he bounced on the missionaries, 
who had crossed his views, and feelings, in opposing the 
measures of Georgia and the general government. His 
whole appearance is imposing and in the highest degree 
gentlemanly and prepossessing. He is a very fine looking 
old man, though I left him with an unfavorable opinion 
of him. And though I dislike and disapprove of his ad- 
ministration, yet, I am free to confess, that if his face 
is an index of his character, he is an upright, fearless 
man. But I have long since learned that it will not do 
to take men by their looks.’’ 


JACKSON 


FT a eee eee eT Sea ee eae sae oa ee ca cron 


J J 


CHAPTER 1. 


Act of North Carolina ceding to the United States 
the present State of Tennessee; Act of Congress 
declaring war between England and the United 
States; Gold Medal for Jackson; letter of 
Mrs. Sarah W.N. Leonard, great grand—daught- 
er of Governor John Sevier, on Governor 
Sevier's religious views; letter of 1793 of Col. 
James King to General John Sevier; letter by 
Major Jno. Reed on a visit by General Jackson 
and himself to the tomb of Washington; letter 
by Davy Crockett setting forth his hostile opin- 
ion of Jackson; correspondence between E. W. 
Hughes and Miss Myrtle Leonard of Washington 
County, Tennessee, with the author, in refer- 
ence to the “Boone Tree,’ in Washington 
County; sketch of Hon. T. A. E. -Weadock, 
Detroit, Michigan; United States Senator James 
A. Reid’s speech at funeral of Ex-speaker 
Champe Clark; poem “The Hermitage” by Will 
Allen Dromgoole in Nashville Banner Feb. 


FORIHOH HOM OFOPOPOAORTPOHOA HOOF ATeOHOHO AIMCO TOSHOROKROMOHOPOPOR HOMOHO 
SPOR RO PO OPO HO POO PO PORO ORO PO RO POR PO ORO POO POOPORO RO RO PO PoP R ORO eoe5 


27, 1921. 
Pee ek fee eeu ee a ae ee eae oe ea] 


“fan ACT CEDING TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 
CERTAIN WESTERN LANDS THEREIN DESCRIBED, AND 
AUTHORIZING THE DELEGATES FROM THIS STATE 
IN CONGRESS TO EXECUTE A DEED OR 
DEEDS FOR THE SAME. 


“J. Whereas, the United States in Congress assembled, by their 
resolutions of the sixth of September and tenth of October, one 


(9) 


10 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


thousand seven hundred and eighty, have earnestly recommended 
to the respective States in the Union claiming or owning vacant 
Wester territory to make cessions of part of the same; and whereas 
by their resolution of the eighteenth of April one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-three, as a further means as well as hastening 
the extinguishment of the debts as of establishing the harmony of 
the United States, it was recommended to the States which have 
passed no Acts towards complying with the said resolutions, to 
make the liberal cessions therein recommended; and this State 
ever desirous of doing ample justice to the public creditors as well 
as establishing the harmony of the United States. 


II. “Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
North Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by the authority of the 
Same. 

That this State do hereby cede to the Congress of the United 
for the said States, all right, title and claim which this State has to 
the lands west of the Apalachian or Alleghany Mountains, begin- 
ing at the Virginia line where the said line intersects the extreme 
height of the said mountain, thence with the said mountain to the 
thirty-fifth degree of north latitude, being the southern boundary, 
thence running in the said thirty-fifth degree to the Mississippi, 
thence up the Mississippi to the thirty-six degrees thirty minutes 
of north latitude, being the northern boundary of this State, thence 
to the first station; and delegates from this State in the Congress 
of the United States are hereby authorized and impowered to ex- 
ecute a deed or deeds on the part of this State, conveying to the 
- Congress of the United States all the right, title and claim to the 
goverment and territory thereof, that this State now has or ever 
had in or to the said territory above ceded, upon the following ex- 
press conditions and reservations, and subject thereto, that is to 
say: First, That neither the lands nor the inhabitants of the 
territory westward of this said line shall be estimated after this 
cession shall be accepted in the ascertaining of the proportion of 
this State with the United States in the common expense occasioned 
by the late war. 

“Secondly, That the lands laid off or directed to be laid off by 
any Act or Acts of Assembly of this State for the officers and 
soldiers, their heirs and assigns, respectively, and if the bounds of 
the lands already prescribed for the officers and soldiers of the 
Continental line of this State shall not contain a sufficient quantity 
of lands fit for cultivation to make good the several provisions 
intended by law, that such officer or soldier who shall fall short 
of his allotment or proportion after all the lands fit for cultivation 
within the said bounds are appropriated be permitted to take his 
quota, or such part thereof as may be deficient in any other part 
of the said Western country not already appropriated within the 
time limited by law for the said officers and soldiers to survey 
and lay off their respective proportions; and where entries have 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 11 


been made and titles under them not perfected by grant or other- 
wise, then and in that case, the Governor for the time being shall 
and is hereby required to perfect such titles in such manner as if 
this Act had never been passed; and that all entries made by, or 
grants made to all and every person and persons whatsoever under 
the laws of this State, and within the limits hereby ceded to the 
United States, shall have the same force and effect as if this cession 
had not been made; and that all and every right of occupancy and 
pre-emption, and every other right reserved by any Act or Acts to 
persons settled on any or occupying any lands within the limits of 
the lands hereby ceded as aforesaid, and all reservations of hunting 
grounds for the use of the Indians, shall continue to be in full 
force in the same manner as if this cession had not been made, 
and as conditions upon which the said lands are ceded to the 
United States: And further, it shall be understood, that if any 
person or persons shall have by virtue of the law commonly called 
the land law now in force in this State located his or their entry 
to any spot or piece of ground on which any other person or 
persons shall have previously located an entry or entries, that then 
and in that case the person or persons making such entry or 
entries or their assignee or assignees, shall have leave and be at 
full liberty to remove the location of such entry or entries to any 
lands on which no entry has been specially located, or on any vacant 
lands included within the limits of the lands hereby ceded; Pro- 
vided, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed 
to extend to the making good any entry or entries, grant or grants 
heretofore declared void by any Act or Acts of the General Assem- 
bly of this State. 

“Thirdly, That all the lands hereby ceded to the United States 
and not reserved or appropriated as before shall be considered as a 
common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United American 
States as now are or shall become members of the confederation or 
federal alliance of the said States, North Carolina inclusive, ac- 
cording to their respective and usual proportion in the general 
charge and expenditure; and shall be faithfully disposed of for that 
purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever. 

“Fourthly, That the territory so ceded shall be laid out and 
formed into a State or States, containing a suitable and convenient 
extent of territory; and that the State or States so formed shall be | 
a distinct republican State or States and admitted members of the 
federal union, having the same right of sovereignty as other States; 
and that the State or States which shall be hereafter erected within 
the territory now ceded, shall have the most full and absolute right 
to establish and enjoy, in the fullest latitude, the same constitution 
and the same bill of rights which are now established in the State 
of North Carolina, subject to such alterations as may be made by 
the inhabitants at large or a majority of them, not inconsistent 
with the confederation of the United States. Provided always, 


12 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


that no regulations made or to be made by Congress shall tend to 
emancipate slaves, otherwise than shall be directed by the Assembly 
or Legislature of such State or States. 


Fifthly, That if Congress do not proceed to accept the lands 
hereby ceded in due form and give official notice thereof to the 
delegates of this State, if in Congress, or to the executive or legis- 
lative authority within twelve months from the passing of this Act, 
then this Act shall and will be of no force, and the lands hereby 
ceded revert to the State. 


“Mr. Davie moved for leave to enter the following protest on 
passing on the third reading the Bill ceding to the United States 
in Congress Assembled, certain Western Lands therein described. 

“Dissentient : 


“Because, the extent of our Territory as bounded by the late 
Treaty of Peace could never endanger the general Confederacy. 

“Because, if the principles of the Federal Union could ever 
be injured by an unequal possession of Territory, a cession of so 
large a portion of this State, while Virginia and Georgia will re- 
tain an immense Territory, would be certainly dangerous and 
impolitick. 

“Because, this State, from her local circumstances and the 
weakness of the two Southern States, was obliged to advance 
large sums for their aid and defense which are still unliquidated, 
and as our credits for those advances have been uniformly op- 
posed by the Eastern States, we think that it ought to have been 
expressly stipulated, as a preliminary to the cession, That the 
whole expense of the Indian Expeditions and our Militia aids to 
Georgia and South Carolina should pass to account in our quota 
to the Continental expenses incurred by the late war. 


“Because, the resolve of Congress of the seventeenth of Feb- 
ruary, or the resolve of the eighteenth of April, seventeen hundred 
and eighty-three, should have been first carried into effect in 
order to ascertain the just quota or proportion of the Federal 
debt due from the individual States and their respective accounts 
should have been liquidated and their claims fully established 
before any cession took place. 


“Because, the Western territory being the undoubted prop- 
erty of this State, was justly considered by the people as a se- 
curity to their claims against the public, and was solemnly pledg- 
ed to them by the Legislature in the Act of opening the land office 
‘for the redemption of specie and other Certificates’. 


“Because, experience has shown us that our want of public 
honesty has been already severely punished by our want of public 
credit, we deem it a false and mistaken conception that our credit 
would be increased with foreign nations, by the adoption of a 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History — 13 


measure founded on an open and palpable breach of faith to our 
own citizens. 

“Because, justice and policy required that the domestic debt 
should either have been discharged by the sale of the Western 
Lands or substantiated in the hands of the creditor by establish- 
ing a fund for the punctual payment of the Interest annually. 
The first great resource is destroyed by the cession, and it is our 
opinion that the State emerging from the miseries of a destruc- 
tive war, is perfectly unable to discharge the interest of her inter- 
nal debt, amounting to a sum far beyond her abilities; Taxes in 
a certain degree we know are just and expedient, that by stim- 
ulating the industry of the individual they increase the aggregate 
wealth of the community, but when extended so far as to en- 
trench upon the subsistance of the people they become burthen- 
some and oppressive. 


“Because, though our internal debt is in the nature of a do- 
mestic loan and circumstances and consequences are widely differ- 
ent; loans are made by those who can spare from their consumption 
to the necessity of the Government and without doubt contribute 
to its stability and alleviate the pressure of taxation; but a large part 
of our domestic debt grew out of the generous advances of Indi- 
viduals to the public in the hour of distress, many of these are 
now impoverished and even ruined by their confidence in the 
justice of the Legislature; immense sums were also contracted 
by general contributions and military impresments of the most 
valuable property, and often from the most necessitous body of 
the people; suspension of payment must prove ruinous to those 
patriotick suffers and a disgrace to the State. 


“Because, the Auditors, from their desultory manner of doing 
business, have left many claims unadjusted. The great body of 
the people sustained an irretrievable injury by the cession, they 
were undoubtedly equally entitled to this commutation for their 
claims, and we could never consent that the public faith should 
be violated and the general interest sacrificed to the aggrandize- 
ment of a few Land Jobbers who have preyed on the depreciated 
credit of their Country and the necessities of the unfortunate 
citizen. 


“Because, by the Bill of rights the limits of the State are not 
to be altered, but for the purpose of erecting a new Government 
only, certainly a cession for the express purpose of constituting 
a common fund can never be construed into this constitutional 
object, but was it even constitutional to dismember the State 
by Act of Assembly, or politick to cede two thirds of the soil and 
Sovereignty of our Country without any ascertained equivalent? 
A just regard to the rights of the people would have induced us 
to suspend the passage of the Bill until the sense of our constit- 
uents could be collected on this irrevocable step. 


14 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Wim. R. Davie, “David Flowers, 
James Gallaway, Caleb Phifer, 
James White, G. H. Barringer, 
Joseph McDowell, James Hinton, 
James Withrow, Wm. Kendal, 
James Emmet, Richd. Ransom, 
Richard Singleton, E. McLean, 
Joseph Robins, David Shelton, 
Daniel McKissick, John Bonds, 
David Wilson John Speed, 
Wm. Clark, Sam’l Smithwick, 
J. Lennard Wm. Pickett, 
Win. Lenoir, Matthew Lock, 
Wm. Hill, Thos. Sherrod, 
‘Thomas Person, Jesse Franklin, 
John Atkinson, Sam’! Cain, 
Henry Montfort, Landon Carter, 
Elijah Robertson, Wm. Alford.” 
John Sloan, 

AN ACT 


“An Act DECLARING WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF 
GREAT BRITIAN AND IRELAND AND THE DEPENDENCIES 
THEREOF, AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
AND THEIR TERRITORIES. 


‘Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, ‘That WAR be, 
and the same is hereby declared to exist between the United King- 
dom of Great Britian and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, 
and the United States of America and their territories; and that 
the President of the United States be and he is hereby authorised 
to use the whole land and naval force of the United States to 
carry the same into effect, and to issue to private armed vessels of 
the United States commissions or letters of marque and general 
reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, and under the seal 
of the United States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the 
government of the same, United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland, and the subjects thereof. 

“Tune 18, 1812. 

“JAMES MapIson.” 

“Approved, 

This act declareing th: war of 1812 is reproduced here in order 
that the modern reader and student may see the verbiage of the 
document that made the battle of New Orleans a possibility, and 
Jackson the victor there, and created a great popular hero and a 
President of the United States. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 15 


THANKS OF CONGRESS TO JACKSON -AND His COMMAND. 


“RESOLVED, By the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the 
thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby given to Major Gen. 
Jackson, and through him, to the officers and soldiers of the 
regular army, of the volunteers, and of the militia under his com- 
mand, the greater proportion of which troops consisted of militia 
and volunteers, suddenly collected together, for their uniform gal- 
lantry and Good Conduct, conspicuously displayed against the 
enemy, FROM THE TIME OF THE LANDING BEFORE 
NEW ORLEANS, UNTIL HIS FINAL EXPULSION THERE- 
FROM; and particularly for their valor, skill and good conduct on 
the eighth of January last, in repulsing, with great slaughter, a 
numerous British army of chosen veteran troops, when attempting 
by bold and daring attack to carry by storm the works hastily 
thrown up for the protection of New Orleans;and thereby obtain- 
ing a most signal victory over the enemy with a desparity of loss, 
on his part, UNEXAMPLED IN MILITARY ANNALS. 

“RESOLVED, That the President of the United States be 
requested to cause to be struck, a gold medal, with devices em- 
blematical of this splendid achievement, and presented to Major 
General Jackson as a testimony of the high sense entertained by 
Congress of his JUDICIOUS and distinguished conduct on that 
memorable occasion. 

“RESOLVED, That the President of the United States be re- 
quested to cause the foregoing resolutions to be communicated to 
Maj. General Jackson, in such terms as he may deem best cal- 
culated to give effect to the objects thereof.” 


LETTER FROM MRS. SARAH W. N. LEONARD, GREAT GRAND-DAUGHTER 
OF GOV. JOHN SEVIER. 
“Baltimore, Md., March 30, 1921. 
“Hon. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
“Dear Sir,— 

“Since reading the Diary of John Sevier, published in your 
“Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History,’’ in which he 
frequently mentions attending services at the Roman Catholic 
Church, it occurs to me that some of your readers may infer that 
he was of that religious faith. 

“As a Daughter of the American Revolution, I am interested 
in facts and not fables going into history and am desirous that 
the question of my ancestor’s religion be not left open, for those 
who do not know, to form false conclusions. I, therefore, take 
the liberty of writing to you on this subject, that you, as an his- 
torian, may be able to answer the question conclusively. 

“T do not hesitate to state that Gov. Sevier was not a Roman 
Catholic. His ancestor, with a brother, left France after the 


16 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


“Massacre of St. Bartholomew,” and during the religious dis- 
sension in France, went to London, and there changed the spel- 
ling of their name from ‘Xavier’ to ‘Sevier.’ 

‘The family were Huguenots, with the exception of St. Fran- 
cis. 

“Goy. Sevier was very proud of his Huguenot extraction, and 
on all occasions, when possible, attended Protestant services. 

“While in Congress and in Washington, he evidently availed 
himself of his first opportunity for attending the Catholic Church, 
and he, no doubt, was interested in learning all there was in the 
faith of that Church, which had so highly honored his kinsman, 
St. Francis Xavier. 

“Family traditions and historians claim that St. Francis Xavier, 
and John and Valentine, who went to London, were brothers. 

“The Xaviers were all akiu, a rich and illustrious family, of 
the town of Xavier, in the French Pyrenees, and of very strong 
influence. 

“T have always felt deep interest in my family history on both 
sides of the house, and have imbibed all the information I could 
concerning them. It may not be out of place here to state that 
I was the first woman from Tennessee to join the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, being a charter member, No. 85, in the 
Society, which now numbers more than a hundred thousand. I 
was also the first descendant of John Sevier and Lipscomb Norvell, 
to become a member of that Society. 

“Sincerely, 
“SarAH W. N. LEONARD. 


LETTER FROM COL. JAMES KING TO GEN. JOHN SEVIER. 
ORIGINAL IN WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 


“Knoxville, Sept. 23, 1793. 


“Dear Sir: 

“Mr. Walker who will give you this will bring a canoe with 
twenty bb's. of flour two casks of whiskey three pots and four 
ovens. I have set several Blk. smiths to work and you shall have 
some axes this week. Esq. Hamilton has engaged to send 12 
good axes helved and ground to your camp on or before Saturday 
next and I shall miss no Opportunity in sending you all necessary 
tools that I can get; hope to hear from you all opportunitys. I 
have 100 Head of fine cattle on the Road to camp they will per- 
haps need a Guard from Hellys Station. 

“Tam Dr. Sir Yor. Obdt. Serv. 
“James King. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 17 


““Gen Sevier. 
neo S: 
I have applyed for your hat, it will not be finished before the 
last of the week. 
ae eR? 
VISIT TO THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON BY JACKSON AND MAJOR 
- JOHN REID 


“The following is an extract of a letter written by our lamented 
friend, Maj. John Reid, after an excursion in company with Gen- 
eral Jackson to Mount Vernon. It will be recollected that the 
Legislature of Virginia has very properly reminded Congress of 
that respect which is so justly due ‘to the remains of our most ex- 
alted Chief.’ It is indeed not a little strange that this tribute 
should have been thus long neglected, under such circumstances. 
The pathetic manner in which Major John Reid notices this neg- 
lect, is calculated to awaken in our minds a recollection of virtues 
in a great man which should never be forgotten. And to cherish 
such recollections we think is not inconsistent with our duty. 
—Lynchburg Press. 


“Washington City, 16th Nov. 1815. 


“Dear L: 

“Tt is now night, and I am just returned from a visit to Mount 
Vernon, a spot rendered sacred to every American bosom by the 
residence of its former owner. Judge Washington was unfor- 
tunately not at home; but from Mr. Herbert, who married his 
niece, and from the rest of the family, we received the utmost 
hospitality and politeness. 

“The road to Mount Vernon leads by Alexandria through which 
we passed incog. that we might not in so solemn a pilgrimage, be 
interrupted by the intrusion of impertinent curiosity. 

“The site is really a delightful one. By a gentle ascent you 
teach the summit of an eminence which commands, on the one side 
an extensive country prospect, and overlooks, on the other, the 
majestic Potomac, on the bosom of which, vessels of various de- 
scriptions are continually gliding. On the summit stands the 
venerable dwelling of the patriarch of our liberties, corresponding 
in its style with the plain and simple style of him who planned it. 
A neat little flower garden, laid out and trimmed with the utmost 
exactness, and ornamented with green and hot houses, in which 
flourish the most beautiful and tropical plants, affords a happy 
relief to the solemn sadness produced by a view of the antique 
structure which it adjoins and leads you insensibly into a train of 
pleasing melancholy musing, in which you review, in imagination, 
the manner in which the greatest and best of men, after the most 
active and eventful life, solaced in retirement the evening of his 
days. Indeed every thing you behold derives a thousand-fold 


2 


18 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


interest from being associated with the memory of its venerable - 
proprietor—all the splendor of the most fanciful decorations. 

formed to gratify a nation’s or an individual’s vanity can excite 

no such interest. 

“From the garden, I went to vist a spot in which no enlivening, 
scarcely a consoling emotion could find a place in my bosom. In 
a small vault on the river side of the hill, ill constructed and over- 
grown with shrubbery, repose the bones of the father of his country. 
Why is this so? Must the charge of ingratitude forever rest upon 
Republics? It is now several sessions since Congress solicited 
“the remains’’ of him whose life had been devoted to his country’s 
service, in order that some suitable testimonial of that country’s 
respect might be shewn to them. The venerable widow who cher- 
ished them, as a most precious relict, sacrificed her individual 
feelings to the nation’s wishes, and granted the request. Since 
then, as though this apparently warm interest had been but as 
studied mockery, those remains have been permitted to moulder 
in the ‘dark and narrow cell’ where they were at first deposited. 
I perceive that the whole family are mortified and hurt at it—not 
that they desire any splendid national Mausoleum to preserve 
the perishable remains of one whose virtues are entombed on their 
hearts and will live forever—but that they themselves, are now 
debarred an opportunity of testifying that decent respect for their 
dear lost lord which their feelings dictate to them as a duty, 
Oh, my country, when Washington is forgotten, who of thy Sons 
can ever hope to be remembered.” 


DAVY CROCKETT DID NOT ADMIRE JACKSON. : 
LETTER JUST AS WRITTEN. 


“Washington City, 27th May, 1834. 
“Dear Sir: 

“Your kind favor of the 8th inst. came safe to hand and I will 
hasten to answer it. I am in good health and hope these lines will 
find you in alike health. 

“T can give you but little political news more than you can see 
by the papers; you will see that our long and happy mode of 
Government is near at an end, we may from present appearances 
soon bid farewell to our republican liberties, we have completely 
the Government of one man and he has tools and slaves enough in 
the house of representatives to sustain him in his wild carear. I 
do believe his whole object is to promote the interest of a set of 
scoundrels; hope these lines will find you in the alike country. 

“You recollect that I said in Brownsville in my speech that the 
whole object of Jacksons great zeal to get the moneys out of the 
United States Bank, was to get it placed where he could have the 
control of it to use for the purpose of making that political Judas, 
Martin Van Buren, our next president and you now see my pre- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 19 


diction came true, you see Andrew the first King hold both Sword 
and purse and claims it as the other public property by the Con- 
stitution. 

“Will the people agree that no man, not even those that formed 
the Constitution, did not understand it, nor no man that ever 
wielded the destinies of this nation ever understood that Sacred 
article until Andrew Jackson mounted the throne I am much mis- 
taken in the people of this country if they have forgot the Blood 
and treasure that was lost in relieving this country from a govern- 
ment of one man, and will fall back to the kingly powers. The 
truth is the poor Superanuated old man’s vanity has prompted him 
to think that his popularity could stand anything. You state to 
me that the people is well pleased with my course, this is gratifying 
to me beyond measure and I hope you will tender to my friends 
my greatful acknowledgement for their complementary letter ex- 
pressing their intire satisfaction at my course as their servant I 
never did know any mode of legislating only to go and do what my 
conscience dictated to me to be wright. I care nothing for any 
party more than to do justice to all. 

“The old man thinks he has put down the Bank of the United 
States and he has commenced war on the Senate, as he thinks 
that to be the only barior in his way to kingly powar. Let him 
once conquer the senate and he will put his foot on the Constitu- 
tion and tell the Judicial powar to go to hell. I do believe this to 
be his calculation but I hope he may be mistaken. The Senate 
will save the Constitution and the laws of the country in spite of 
Andrew Jackson and all his minions around him. 

“I was one of the first men that ever fired a gun under his 
command, and I supported him while he supported his promised 
principles, but when he abandoned them I abandoned him and I 
have never regretted my course. 

“T have been trying for some time to get up my land bill, but 
we have not even passed the appropriation Bills and there is no 
chance to do anything. I know of no opposition to it if we could 
get to act on it. 

“TI must close with great respects. 
“T remain your friend and ob’t servt. 
“David Crockett.” 


“Colo. T. J. Dobyns, Brownsville, Tennessee. 


“P.S. We are at the contested election between Moore & 
Letcher; if it is made a party question Moore will get it and if it is 
decided on Justice, Letcher will get it. 


oe, 


20 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 
E. W. HUGHES TO THE AUTHOR. 
WOLFE BROTHERS & CO., INCORPORORATED MANUFACTURERS. 


THE BOONE TREE. 


“Piney Flats, Tenn., May 31, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
“Dear Sir: 

“Yours recieved. I have just had four gavels finished up 
and will mail today. There can be no doubt but what they were 
made from the Boone tree, as the owner of the land (Mr. Isley) 
on which it grew, brought the planks to our factory to have small 
tables made for himself. 

“This tree was blown down some time back, and was some- 
what damaged by rot and worms. I have been told that the slab 
with the famous inscription was removed and sent to Washington, 
but don’t know this to be a fact just now. 

“I am getting up some facts in regard to this tree, and will 
send them to you when I get them collected. 


“Very truly yours, 
“FE. W. Hughes.” 


E. W. HUGHES TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Piney Flats, Tenn., Aug. 23rd., 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
p DiezheySyrae 

“I come at last with some facts regarding the Boone tree. I 
made a special trip to the site last Sunday and have talked to 
some of the very best citizens of the county and all say the facts 
are about as I have set them down. 

“There is no doubt of the gavels being made of the Boone 
Tree as the owner bought the board to have worked up for him- 
self. He has some of the lumber on hand yet and is selling the 
gavels and tables made from it. He claims to have gotten $100.00 
for the table with the bullet showing in it. So they are not apt 
to be very rare in this community until his stock of lumber is ex- 
hausted. 

“T am sending a painting of the tree which I had a pretty hard 
time to secure the loan of 

“Yours truly, 
“FE. W. Hughes,” 


THE BOONE TREE. 


Painted by Miss Myrtle Leonard of Jonesboro, Tenn., R. F. D. and procured for illustrationin this book by Mr. 
E. W. Hughes of Piney Flats, Washington County, Tenn. 
See Chapter One, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 21 


E. W. HUGHES TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Piney Flats, Tenn., Aug. 23, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 


“Dear Sir:- 

“About ten miles North of Jonesboro, Tenn., in Washington 
County, East Tennessee, on the waters of Boone Creek, there 
stood until a few years ago a giant Beech Tree that was the most 
famous tree in the State of Tennessee, or probably in the United 
States. Thousands of people from the State and nearby States 
have journeyed to see the historical inscription that was carved 
on its smooth bark. The inscription was plain to read until about 
eighteen years ago, but since, visitors and curious people have 
obliterated this inscription which reads, 


“D Boon, 
“Cilled A Bar 
“In Year 1760” 


“This tree stood on the land now owned by Mr. LaFayette 
Isley, in a magnificent forest of beech and hickory. It was 29 
inches across the stump and about 70 feet high. It leaned sharply 
to the west, probably 20 degrees, in which direction it fell about 
1916. I believe the scene around this spot has changed very little 
since D. Boon passed that way over 150 years ago. The stately 
trees have never been disturbed and the only work of man that 
can be seen is a stone marker standing in eight feet of the spot on 
which the Boone Tree stood. These markers were erected a few 
years ago by the Tennessee Daughters of the Revolution and are 
placed a few miles apart, designating his trail through Tennessee 
from North Carolina to Kentucky. Mr. Isley cut off some logs 
from this tree and it was the writer’s privilege to make some 
library tables and other souvenirs for its owner. Three or four 
gavels were sent to Mr. S. G. Heiskell, of Knoxville, with the 
request to place them where they would be preserved to the people 
of the State. 

“It is a curious fact that in the operation of making these 
tables, a leaden bullet was sawn through its middle and each half 
adhered to its wooden bed all through the operation of manu- 
facture and finished, and shows in the table today. The bullet 
was about five inches in from the bark toward the heart. The 
painting was made by Miss Myrtle Leonard, of Jonesboro, and 
loaned for this picture. 


“Very respectfully, 
“E. W. Hughes. 


22 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


THE AUTHOR TO MISS LEONARD 


Knoxville, Tenn. Aug. 29th, 1921, 
‘“Miss Myrtle Leonard, 
care of E. W. Hughes, 
“Piney Flats, Tenn. 


‘“My Dear Miss Leonard: 

“On yesterday I sent you a copy of the Journal & Tribune 
containing a picture of your painting of the Boone Tree. I tried 
to get you this morning by telephone but failed. I wanted to 
learn when it was you painted the picture of the Boone Tree which 
Mr. Hughes sent me and which I will return to Mr. Hughes. 

“Please state all the circumstances connected with your paint- 
ing the Boone tree—how you came to paint it, the date of the 
painting, where the tree is located with reference to Jonesboro; 
how long your were in doing the painting; whether the inscription 
on the tree was visible to the eye when you did the painting. 

“If you did the painting from a description given you of the 
tree and not by actually seeing it, please tell me the name of the 
party who gave you the description. 

“T am trying to get all the authentic facts connected with the 
tree for the Tennessee Historical Society and for the State Archives 
at the Capitol in Nashville. A great deal of interest has been 
manifested here in Knoxville in your picture which appeared in 
yesterday’s (Sunday) Journal & Tribune. 

“Yours truly, 
“S. G. Heiskell” 


MISS LEONARD TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Jonesboro, Tenn., Route 
“September 2, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 


“Dear Sir: 

“The interest you have taken in the Boone Tree and the pic- 
ture of it is appreciated very much, and I want to thank you for 
the copy of the paper containing the sketch and picture. 

“T am glad to give you all the facts I can about the location 
of the tree and the painting of the picture. 

‘The Boon Tree is on the old stage road leading from Jones- 
boro to Blountsville. It is about eight miles northeast of Jones- 
boro, and nine miles from Johnson City. It is about four miles 
from where Duncan, the first white man, was buried in Tenn., 
and only two miles from where William Bean built his cabin. 
Then just a mile from this tree, on Boon’s Creek, is the Boon 
Falls. It is said that Boon safely escaped from the Indians by 
hiding under the rocks over which the water falls. 


THOMAS A. E. WEADOCK, 1850. 


Member of Congress from Michigan, from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1895, and a collector of books, paintings, 
engravings and historical data relating to Andrew Jackson. See sketch of Mr. Weadock. 
Chapter One. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 23 


‘““My reasons for painting the picture were as follows: 

“My home is not in Jonesboro, as the paper stated, but at 
Boon, just one mile from the Boon Tree. From childhood, I 
have played beneath the tree, and it was there that we had our 
little picnics and dreamed of the past. In fancy, I saw Boon 
shoot the bear or helped him escape from the Indians. As I 
grew older, I was proud of our historical section with its many 
legends, and dearer to me than all was that of the Boon Tree. 

“T decided last year to paint the tree while my memory of it 
was fresh. Then too, an old kodak picture of the tree was a 
great help, especially the position of the roots. As to how long 
I was in painting it, I cannot tell, for I would work until it would 
not look right, then put it away and work again when I decided 
what was wrong. I only finished it in June of this year. 

“Mr. L. A. Isley and family, owners of the tree, told me my 
picture was exactly as they remembered it. The inscription has 
not been plain since I can remember, altho’ you could see where 
it was. It had been cut over. In fact, the tree was covered 
with the names of thousands that had come to see it. 

“All you see now is a few roots falling to pieces, a marker that 
follows the Boon Trail and lofty Beech Trees bearing names of 
those that could find no room on the Boon Tree, or loved it too 
well, to mar it. But we have memories that cannot be taken 
away. 

“Ti I have omitted anything you would like to know, I will 
try to find out if you will write me at Jonesboro, Tenn., R. F. D. 
No. 4, or call me through Johnson City, then Boon’s Creek central. 

“Yours truly, 
“(Miss) Myrtle Leonard.”’ 


HON. THOMAS A. E. WEADOCK. 


Hon. Thomas A. E. Weadock of Detroit, Michigan, is a life 
long admirer of Andrew Jackson and a collector of books, pam- 
phlets, pictures of every variety, autographs and letters of Andrew 
Jackson, and the leading statesmen and politicians of the Jackson 

era. There are probably larger Jackson collections in the United 
States than Mr. Weadock’s but none more carefully selected, or 
according to its extent, more historically valuable. 

To this collection Mr. Weadock voluntarily gave liberal access 
to aid in the preparation of this volume, and sent a part of it to 
Knoxville, Tennessee, the author’s home, for that purpose, 
and he feels that gratitude as well as reciprocal courtesy, 
demand that the volume should present a sketch of Mr. Weadock’s 
devotion to the name and fame of Andrew Jackson to all to whom 
it might itself carry Jackson’s name. 


24 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Hon. Thomas A. E. Weadock was born in Ballygarret County, 
Wexford, Ireland, on January 1, 1850, and came with his parents 
to America in 1850 and located on a farm near the town of St. 
Mary’s, Ohio. He attended the district school and also the union 
school at St. Mary’s, and on the death of his father in December, 
1863, he left school and managed the farm, his older brother having 
enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. While so employed he kept 
up home studies, his favorites being history and biography. When 
his brother returned from the Union Army in 1865, Mr. Wead- 
ock went to Cincinnati in search of employment and entered a 
printing office, then became a clerk, then went back to St. Marys 
and taught school for five years, carrying on his own studies while 
teaching. On the money made by teaching, he entered the Law 
Department of the University of Michigan in 1871 and graduated 
as Bachelor of Laws March 26, 1873, and was admitted to the Bar 
of the Supreme Court of Michigan at Detroit, April 8, 1873, and 
to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio in June 1873. He 
located at Bay City, Michigan, September 12, 1873, and in 1883 was 
elected Mayor of Bay City and Served until 1885. He declined a 
re-nomination. 

He entered into a law partnership with his brother John C. 
Weadock, and their practice which has continued to this day, 
has extended into many counties of Michigan and to other states. 
He was Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Bay County, Michigan, 
for two years, and on the death of the prosecuting Attorney, suc- 
ceeded him and served till December 31, 1878. 

In politics Mr. Weadock has always been a Democrat, and in 
every campaign he has been on the stump for the Democratic 
party. He was Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Con- 
vention of 1884 and of the joint congressional convention when 
the Greenback party united with the Democrats. In 1885 he was 
permanent Chairman of the Democratic State Convention. In 
1890 Mr. Weadock was unanimously nominated at Alpena, Mich- 
igan, for Representative in Congress, made 57 speeches in the 
campaign and was elected by 1,666 majority. He was re-elected in 
1892. In 1893 he made an extensive tour of Europe and returned 
in time for the special session of Congress held that year. 

In the 53rd Congress, he was Chairman of the Committee 
of Mines and Mining and a member of the Committee on Pacific 
Railroads He supported the Wilson tariff bill, the income tax 
law, the repeal of the Sherman law, the repeal of the election 
laws and the increase of the Navy. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 25 


In 1894 he declined a re-nomination to Congress in a letter in 
which he said, “I desire to return to my profession, and having 
found the only office I ever wished to hold, to be in a large measure 
a disappointing thankless task, I relinquish it without regret.” 

“The Bench and Bar of Michigan,” copyright 1897, presents 
Mr. Weadock’s personal characteristics in this way: ““Mr. Weadock 
was never popular in the ordinary sense. He stood unflinch- 
ingly by his opinions and while he made strong friends, he also 
made enemies. He expressed his views strongly but fairly. He 
loved his friends and fought his enemies. His deep convictions, 
dauntless courage and unyielding persistence are among the sources 
of his power.” ; 

In 1896 he was chosen one of the Delegates from the State 
at large in Michigan to the National Democratic Convention. 

In 1895, he opened a law office in Detroit for the general prac- 
tice of his profession. He has been a member of the American 
Bar Association since 1880 and was the Democratic nominee for 
Judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan in 1904. His favorite 
author is Shakespeare, his hero Napoleon and his ideal lawyer 
Daniel O’Connell. 


MEMORIAL 


On March 14, 1918, Honorable Champe Clark, then 
Speaker of the Lower House of Congress, wrote the Fore- 
word of this work from the Speaker’s Room of the House. 
He was a fervent admirer of Andrew Jackson. Now that 
he is dead after a great and patriotic service as Con- 
gressman from Missouri of more than twenty years, the 
author feels that he cannot more perfectly express his 
great admiration for the ex-speaker than by adopt- 
ing and reproducing the grand tribute of United States 
Senator James A. Reid of Missouri at the funeral of Mr. 
Clark on March 5, 1921, in the House of Representatives 
in Washington, D. C. 

“SENATOR REED: A wonderful stream is the river 
of life. A slender thread emerging from the mysterious 
realm of birth, it laughs and dances through the wonder- 
world of childhood. Its broadening currents sweep the 
plains of youth between the flowerdecked banks of ro- 


mance and of hope. A mighty torrent, it rushes over the 
tapids of manhood and breaks in foam upon the rocks 


26 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTory 


of opposition and defeat, then glides away across the bar- 
ren, sterile fields of age until it is engulfed and lost with- 
in the waters of the eternal sea. 

“The robes of royalty, the beggar’s rags, the rich 
man's golden hoard, the pauper’s copperpence, the jewel 
diadems of princes, and the thorny crowns of martyrs 
are swept by the same ceaseless tides. 

“The miracle of birth, the mystery of death remain 
the unsolved problems of all time. The shepherd phi- 
losopher who three thousand years ago upon the Syrian 
plains observed the procession of the planets and con- 
templated the decrees of fate was as wise perhaps as is 
the wisest of to-day. He only knew that standing here 
upon this bank of time his straining eyes could not 
glimpse even the shadowy outlines of the farther shore. 
He could only behold the white sails of receding fleets; 
ships that sail out, but never come again. He only 
knew that at the grave's dread mouth all men must cast 
aside the burden of their honors and their griefs; that 
man takes with him only that which he has freely given 
away; but that even death may not despoil him of the 
riches of service and self-sacrifice. 

“Measured by that standard, he who sleeps today 
bears with him to the tomb a legacy so rare that even 
envy is compelled to pay the tribute of admiration. 

“His long life was devoted to the public weal. Upon 
his country’s altar he placed his wonderful natural 
talent, the zeal of his youth, the energy of middle life, 
the wisdom of old age. 

“With tireless brain he wrought to promote the gen- 
eral good, with sympathetic spirit he labored to lift the 
burdens of sorrow from the shoulders of the oppressed. 
His heart cried out for all who trod adversity's harsh 
road. He explored every avenue of learning and burned 
his candle late into the night, that he might gather for 
them the lore of other countries and of other times. 

The fires of patriotic love for home and country con- 
sumed his very soul. He faced each task with the heroic 
courage of those who do not count the cost. His charac- 
ter rested upon a foundation laid deep in human love. 

“Champ Clark lives because his works live. He lives 
because he helped to defend and keep secure the Con- 
stitution that preserves our rights. He lives in the De- 
claration of Independence, whose principles he nurtured 
with a tender and fearless affection. He lives because he 
helped liberty to live. Men who have so achieved never 
die. In ever-widening circles the influences of Champ 
Clark will be felt, and deeper and yet deeper the tender 
love the people of his State have borne for him will sink 
into their hearts. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 27 


‘As time runs on and the historian surveys the picture 
of these troubled days, there will arise in it no figure 
more heroic than the rugged form that lies so still to- 
day. 

"He was the best beloved of Americans. 

“How cold are words. Let me speak of the man as 
my friend. For thirty years I have known him intimate- 
ly. I watched his course through all the storms of life. 
How big and brave and rugged was this man. He met 
each danger like a brave soldier. He never flinched from 
any task. He stood square-fronted to the world. 

“They say that he is dead, but we who gaze upon 

his marble brow must realize the man we knew does not 
lie here to-day. The soul that made him what he was 
cannot have been destroyed. To his family I cannot 
speak, but of them let me say, in all the world I never 
knew so much of filial affection, of wifely tenderness, 
of fatherly love as was manifested in his home. They 
must find consolation in the memory of this glorious 
man. 
“Soon he will sleep in the soil of his beloved State. 
As it enfolds him, the very clods that touch his coffined 
clay will be blessed with the love he bore for the old 
Commonwealth of Missouri.’ 


‘“THE HERMITAGE 


“Tt stands with face uplifted to the light— 
The Hermitage, just as he left it there; 
Crowned in the sun by day, the stars by night, 
And, day or night, the shadows everywhere— 
The shadows of the ancient cedar trees, 
Their languid, long plumes waving in the breeze. 


“Within a corner of the garden plot 
He sleeps beside his Dear, his darling Dear; 
And so men whisper as they near the spot— 
‘The heart of Andrew Jackson slumbers here.’ 
That dauntless heart which still could burn and break 
And battle proudly for a woman’s sake. 


2 


“The wood, the fields, the limestone-girdled spring, 
The garden with its sweet old-fashioned flowers— 
They call them Jackson’s Hermitage; we bring 
A finer tenure to insure it ours— 
The Hermitage— a thing we hold in trust, 
As true men guard their forbears’ swords from rust. 


28 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Forbid it, God, that ever there should come, 
In length and breadth of this fair land of mine, — 

Such dearth of patriots that a warrior’s home “a 
Should come to seem less holy than a shrine; — 

Deny him in her own brave breast a bed 

Whose pride guards not the greatness of her dead. 


—Will Allen Dromgoole in Nashville Banner, Feb. 27, 1921. 


=e 
se 


CAPTAIN ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER. 


Of ‘‘The King’s American Regiment,’’ and second in command at King’s Mountain on the British side. See 
“The Affair at King’s Mountain,’ Chapter 2. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 29 


CHAPTER 2. 


“The Affair at King’s Mountain’, an Article giving 
the British version of that battle, by John 
Watts de Peyster, nephew of 
Abraham de Peyster, second 

in command at the battle, 
: Oct., 7, 1780. 


Fee ele eee ese eee ene 


Me] eee] ee es] ws] oes 


Pepe fee eee [eee ese we] 


In the Revolutionary War the de Peyster family, one of the 
oldest New York families, had three sons who were Loyalists and 
served on the British side as officers. One of these was Capt. 
Abraham de Peyster who was second in command on the Loyalist 
side and succeeded to the command when Patrick Ferguson, Major 
71st Regiment Loyalists, was shot and killed at Kings Mountain. 

Another was Captain Frederick de Peyster who attained the 
rank of Captain in the Revolutionary War, distinguished himself 
at Eutaw Springs and died in New York in 1834. 

Another was Captain James de Peyster, born May 16, 1753, 
who at the age of twenty was commissioned Captain-Lieutenant, 
and served in the Loyalist Army, and died unmarried at Lincelles, 
Flanders, August 19, 1793, being at the time Ist Lieut. of Artillery. 

Capt. Abraham de Peyster of Kings Mountain was born Feb- 
ruary 18, 1853, and after the close of the Revolution became Treas- 
urer of New Brunswick and died there leaving descendants. 

Gen. John Watts de Peyster, the author of the article ‘“The 
Affair at Kings Mountain,” produced below, was a great nephew 
of Abraham de Peyster of Kings Mountain and was a voluminous 
writer, especially on military subjects. He was a kinsman of 
Gen: Phil Kearney of the Union Army in the Civil War and wrote 
his biography. ‘This article was first published in 1880, 41 years 
ago, and is now out of print. More than a generation of Americans 
have come on the stage of action who never heard of the article or 
its author, and who, while they will not endorse various things in it, 
will welcome a Loyalist view of a supremely important battle in 
which pioneer Tennessee bore so splendid a part. 


39 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


“Tue AFFAIR at Krinc’s MounrtTaIn. 
7TH. OCTOBER, 1780 


“The principal object of this article is to present in new but 
true colors the prominent features of this battle: delineations 
novel, although authentic, because contrary to narratives hitherto 
given as correct. 

“The chief facts are these: 

“Ist. The fall of Ferguson did not determine the battle. He 
was not killed at the end of the action, as always hitherto repre- 
sented, but ‘early in the action, and, therefore, his second in com- 
mand and successor must have some credit for the protracted 
resistance instead of being held amenable to the charge of having 
surrendered as soon as his superior was slain, and the responsibil- 
ity devolved upon him. He had gone through pretty much all 
of the previous receiving and giving of hard knocks, and had been 
shifted like a shuttle from one point of impact to another, wherever 
danger threatened, again and again, throughout the whole engage- 
ment, and he continued to fight on until, as his subordinate sub- 
sequently testifies (Charlestown, 30th January, 1781), “Captain 
de Peyster, on whom the command devolved, seeing it impossible 
to form six men together, thought it necessary to surrender to save 
the lives of the brave men who were left.’ ‘We lost, early in this 
action, Major Ferguson, of the 7lst Regiment.’ Ferguson’s 
obituary notice in Rivington’s Royal Gazette (New York), 24th 
February, 1781, begins: ‘On the death of Maj. Patrick Ferguson, 
who was killed early in the action at King’s Mountain, South Car- 
olina.’ Another letter, dated Charlestown, 4th March, 1781, 
written by an officer who also was in the battle, says, ‘after our 
misfortune in losing Major Ferguson, the command devolved on 
Captain de Peyster; he behaved like a brave, good officer, and 
disputed the ground as long as it was possible to defend it.’ Fi- 
nally, General Lenior (‘Wheeler’s North Carolina,’ 105) who was 
a Captain with Major Winston’s command, writing to correct 
‘accounts of that battle (King’s Mountain) which are very er- 
roneous, states, ‘Colonel Ferguson had seven or eight bullets shot 
through him, and fell some time before the battle was over.’ 

“If General Graham, in his plan of the battle, locates correct- 
ly the spot where Ferguson fell, it is not unlikely that he was shot 
in repelling one of the effective charges at the west end of the 
summit, opposing the advance of the left under Cleveland. It 
is conceded on all sides that Ferguson might have burst through 
the American forces when his lieutenant drove their first attack 
down the slope in the direction of Tarleton and Cornwallis, as the 
latter advised him to do. Shortly after Major Winston came in 
to the right, and the circle was complete. 

“2nd. There was no corps of British Regulars in the fight, 
but those called ‘Regulars’ were a detachment of selected troops 
from the ‘Provincial Corps’ or ‘Brigade’ of American Loyalists, 


— ————— Ee 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 31 


and Ferguson was ‘territorial’ Brigadier. Like Hanging Rock 
and other severe collisions, King’s Mountain was a fight altogether 
between Loyal and Whig Americans, ot between British, proper, 
and Colonists. 

“3rd. Instead of the British outnumbering the Americans, 
the latter were to the British as 1 3-4 to 1; as 1310 (Shelby) to 1,370 
(calculation), to 908 (Allaire) to 960 (Stedman), or to 850 (War- 
ren), or to 960 (Davidson, W. N. C. 103); perhaps the Whigs 
were fully twice as many as the Loyalists, 1,900 to 950. 

“4th. With the exception of the 100 Provincials, Regulars, 
or ‘Veteran Volunteers,’ the British were all green troops or 
militia 

“Sth. The Americans were not green militia, properly speak- 
ing, but men acclimated to battle, seasoned by life-long service to 
fighting. 

“In order to understand the importance of the battle of King’s 
Mountain, the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War of the 
South, and, perhaps, the decisive result everywhere, it is necessary 
to consider the preceding events, their bearing upon this engage- 
ment and its influence upon what followed. 

“The defeat of Camden was a terrible blow to.the colonies. 
No disaster was so unexpected. None was followed by such 
lasting consequences. It left Cornwallis in the centre of the new 
State the master of the situation; and if Clinton had given him a 
few more troops, or the British Government had followed the 
advice of every general of ability and poured reinforcements in 
at once and at critical points, the South would have been irretriev- 
ably lost. The Southern States were always the vulnerable point 
of the Union, and it was in this quarter Washington expected an 
invasion when made Lieut.-General, and preparing against hos- 
tilities on the part of the French. 

“Cornwallis had with him a man remarkable for spirit, ability 
and courage, Patrick Ferguson, Junior, or Second Major of the 
Seventy-first Regiment Highlanders. He possessed many of the 
qualities which ennoble a soldier. He was temperate in his habits, 
magnanimous in his disposition, fearless in danger, and manly at 
all times. Such was the confidence reposed in him by Cornwallis 
that he conferred upon him a Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel; 
constituted him a ‘local’ or ‘territorial’ Brigadier-General of 
militia; confided to him an independent command and allowed him 
to select his subordinates and troops. His mission was to insure 
the submission of the western part of the two Carolinas, embody 
the Loyalists, organize and discipline them, sweep away the par- 
tisan corps and guerillas which endangered communications, 
utilize the resources of the country, and, in fine, act as his chief’s 
left arm in the effectual subjugation of the outlying territory. 
Ferguson had already won considerable reputation in the German 
wars, and at an early age, before he came out to America in 1777. 
He brought with him his own invention, the first breech-loading 


32 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


rifle ever used by regular troops in actual battle, combining a num- 
ber of improvements deemed of comparatively very recent dis- 
covery or application. These rifles, contructed upon this principle, 
were issued to a picked body of men, at the Brandy-wine, 11th 
September, 1777, astonished the American sharpshooters by the 
superiority of their aim and the rapidity of their fire. In this 
battle Ferguson had his right arm shattered, and lost the use of 
it so as to become in reality the ‘one-armed devil’ that he is rep- 
resented as having been during his service, elsewhere, and to the 
South. 

“Ferguson had been uniformly successful in every operation 
confided to him. He distinguished himself at the seige of Charles- 
ton (29th March-12th May, 1780), and in the operations sub- 
ordinate thereto, especially at Monk’s Corner and Lanneau’s 
Bridge, in connection with Tarleton. American writers on these 
events do not stint the praise so justly due to his military capacity. 
They style him ‘the celebrated Ferguson.’ 


“The animosity aroused by Ferguson’s penetration so deep into 
their fastnesses, and his manifest intention of sparing no exer- 
tions to restore the authority of the king, inspired the hardy ele- 
ment, which dwelt amid the Alleghanies, to unite with their freinds 
to crush out one who seemed to be the most dangerous common 
enemy. It is usual and proper to attribute the general irritation 
against Ferguson to his own severity and the outrages committed 
by his followers. This is totally inconsistent with the language 
used about him by local historians. It is needless to dwell on 
his intrepidity, for that he was utterly fearless is acknowledged 
by every one; likewise his extraordinary ability. If any one to 
whom he was nearest and dearest desires to see his praises set 
forth in the strongest language they need only to resort to Ramsey 
and to Wheeler. 

“Patrick Ferguson was no ordinary man. General Davidson 
styles him ‘the Great Partisan; General Lenior ‘the celebrated 
Colonel Ferguson.’ His rank in 1780, has occasioned consider- 
ble controversy. In different works and on different occasions 
he is styled ‘Major,’ ‘Colonel’ and ‘General.’ This is easily 
explained. He held the ‘line’ commission of Second Major in 
the Seventy-first Regiment (‘White’) Highlanders; was ‘bre- 
veted’ Lieutenant-Colonel; is addressed as Colonel, a few days 
before he fell, by Colonel Cruger in the latter’s last communica- 
tion to Ferguson from ‘96;’ and held the ‘local’ rank of Briga- 
dier-General of Militia. The English have a variety of military 
titles which are unknown and unrecognized on other services, 
especially our own; ‘local’ or ‘territorial,’ is one of these; ‘tem- 
porary,’ another; there are five or six. 

“Shortly after Sir Henry Clinto returned to the North and 
Cornwallis succeeded him in command at the South, Patrick 
Moore, against the instructions of Cornwallis, placed himself at 
the head of a strong body of Loyalists from Tyron (afterward 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 33 


Lincoln) County, N. C. He was successful in recruiting his corps 
throughout the region between the Catawba and the Alleghanies. 
As the British advanced northwards, Moore marched towards 
them, and established himself at an old post (such as is generally 
known at the West to this day as a fort) which had been built 
years previously by General Williamson on the Pacolet River, one 
of the feeders, from the Northwest, of the Broad River, which it 
joins at the present village of Pinkneysville. (See Ramsey’s 
Tennessee, 213-15; Stedman’s Quarto, 11, 196). Here he was 
attacked by Colonels Sevier, Shelby and Clarke, and surrendered 
to them the 20th (Lee 22d) June, 1780. This premature rising 
against the advice of Cornwallis, was a movement he ever after 
greatly deplored. 

“The sufferings experienced by the Loyalists of North Caro- 
lina wore out their patience. They assembled again under Col- 
onel Samuel Bryan (Sabine 11, 272-3), and marched into South 
Carolina. Those who escaped Major Davies and Colonel Sumter 
were present in the battle and constituted a portion of the army 
victorious at Camden 16th Aug., 1780. Previous to these oc- 
currences, near the border line of the Carolinas, Ferguson, with 
his “Flying Corps’ or column, had been ranging the country be- 
tween the Wateree, or Catawba, and the Saluda Rivers, gradually 
drawing nearer to North Carolina. Even to indicate the different 
movements which ensued would be almost equivalent to writing 
a complete history of the operations in South Carolina during 

. the ‘Battle Summer’ of 1780. Suffice it to say that these ‘in- 
sults’ of the mountain men induced Cornwallis to select the 
spirited, active and intelligent Ferguson to follow the invaders 
into their own districts, embody the Loyalists, and occupy the 
strongest suitable positions in the interior. Colonel Ferguson 
possessed qualities peculiarly. adapted to win the attachment of 
the marksman of Western South Carolina. To a corps of orig- 
inally 150, but soon reduced by disease and hardship to 100 picked 
men, Provincial regulars (armed with his rifles), he soon advanced, 
his command increased to over 2,000 men, besides a small squad- 
ron of horse. To watch and harass this expidition Colonel Mc- 
Dowell sent Colonels Shelby and Clarke, (Dawson, 606) with 600 
picked mounted riflemen. Instead of awaiting an attack Fer- 
guson pressed forward after Clarke, and his advance struck. if it 
did not surprise, the latter at the Green Spring, in the Spartan- 
burg District, South Carolina, on the Ist August. Clarke got 
off as quickly as possible, and justly so, because he was greatly 
outnumbered. This mishap did not dampen the spirits of the 
Americans, and five days afterwards Sumter attacked the British 
post at Hanging Rock, or Rich’s Mountain, where, on the 6th 
August, occurred one. of the most obstinately contested engage- 
ments of the Revolution. The fight lasted four hours. It was a 
conflict, pure and simple, between the native Whigs and Tories, 
or Loyalists— not a regular soldier was present — and the former 


3 


34 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


were defeated. On the 15th August, Sumter surprised the re- 
doubt which covered the Wateree Ford. Here he gained a little 
success which his enormous preponderence of force rendered in- 
evitable. Next day, the 16th, is the date of the catastrophe at 
Camden. ; 
“This disaster for the Americans has already been sufficiently 
considered. Before its extent and effect had become generally 
known, McDowell had achieved a remarkable triumph, on the 
19th August at Musgrove’s Mills, on the Enoree River. It was 
a triumph, but, nevertheless, one of the merest side issues, since 
the destruction of the main army at Camden rendered it of no 
consequence. It was won by the same tactics as were afterwards 
applied at King’s Mountain, and yet, strange to say, the British 
and Loyalists seemed stupidly blind to their fatal efficacy. “The 
British depended on their discipline, their manhood and the bay- 
onet. ‘The Americans took to the trees, shunned everything like 
personal encounters, and while safe under cover, shot down their 
enemies one by one, just as the Indians of the present day slaugh- 
ter our troops at the West. Undoubtedly they were right to do 
so; but if the British had discarded their intrepidity and followed 
a similar plan of military killing, the Muse of History would have 
had a different story to tell. It was a repetition of Braddock’s 
defeat in 1755, of Oriskany in 1777. At this time, Ferguson lay 
between the different lines of these incursions. As soon as he 
received intelligence of the disaster of his friends on the Enoree, 
he swooped like an eagle upon Clarke (R. 220), who retreated as . 
fast as his horses could carry him away. ‘The flight towards the 
mountains lasted two days and the intervening night, without 
any stop for refreshments. The pursuit was equally vigorous. 
Major de Peyster, with a strong body of mounted troops from 
Ferguson’s column, pursued closely: until late on the evening of 
the second day after the action at Musgrove’s Mills, and did not 
draw rein until excessive fatigue and the fearful heat of the season 
and region broke down both men and horses. 


“Family tradition places Captain Frederic de Peyster, aged 21, 
of Fannings King’s American Regiment of New York Loyalists, 
at the head of these pursuers; and it is said that a similar assign- 
ment to detached duty preserved him from the catastrophe at 
King’s Mountain. It may have been, however, his elder brother, 
Abraham, Aged 27, who was Ferguson’s second-in-command. 

“This appears to be an appropriate place to explain how Fergu- 
son got to the spot, King’s Mountain, where his career was brought 
to such a sudden termination. After his victory at Camden and 
the rout of Sumter, Cornwallis, with his main body, moved due 
north (east of the Catawba), to the Waxhaws, the scene of the 
previous slaughter of Buford’s command by: Tarleton, and thence 
to Charlotte, eighteen miles eastward of King’s Mountain, in- | 
tending to proceed on to Salisbury, some forty miles to the north- 
east again. West of the Catawba lay the route of Tarleton’s 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 35 


Legion and the Light Infantry. Cooperating with Tarleton, 
Colonel Turnbull was stationed with his New York Volunteers, 
in conjunction with Ferguson’s corps of Loyalists, on Little 
River (Lee, 98). 

“After the failure of Colonel Elijah Clarke’s attempt upon 
Augusta, 14th-19th September, Ferguson was ordered by Corn- 
wallis to attack the Americans on their retreat, and cooperate 
with Colonel Cruger, who was in command at Ninety-Six, seventy 
miles north of Augusta, and about one hundred miles south of 
Gilbret Town, whitherward, as was supposed, Clarke was retreat- 
ing. ‘Cruger, after gaining some advantage, found the pursuit 
would carry him too far from Ninety-six, to which place he judi- 
ciously returned. Ferguson unfortunately adhered to the plan of 
continuing on, striking at Clarke and his associates, and thought 
the direction which they had taken towards Gilbert Town was per- 
fectly consonant with his ulterior purposes. The object Clarke 
arrived at was to form a communication with many detachments 
of his friends who were approaching; or, if the superiority or ad- 
vanced situation of Ferguson prevented that intention, to join 
Colonel Sumter on the borders of South Carolina.’ 


“It was to break up the ‘Personel and Material’ which led to 
such expeditions as that of Clarke and nourished them, that 
Ferguson was ordered into northwestern South Carolina. His mis- 
sion was also to organize, arm and discipline the Loyalists. On the 
18th August, 1780, an assemblage of these were attacked and de- 
feated by Colonels Williams, Shelby and Clarke, near Musgrove’s 
Mills, on the Enoree River, about where the present lines of the 
Spartanburg and Union districts touch that of the Laurens. 
Ferguson was not far off, he sent a detachment to overtake the 
victors. These came to grief, but the Americans, well aware of 
Ferguson’s energy, fled, or retreated with a speed resembling flight, 
‘pursued closely until late in the evening of the second day after 
the action, by Major Dupoister, and a strong body of mounted 
men from Ferguson’s army. These became so broken down by 
excessive fatigue, in hot weather, that they despaired of overtak- 
ing the Americans and abandoned the pursuit’ (Ramsey, Tenn., 
220). ‘The same authority at another place (223) remarks: ‘The 
detachment under Ferguson, as has been already seen, had been 
for several weeks on the left of the main army, watching the move- 
ments of McDowell, Sevier, Shelby, Sumter, and Williams, and 
Clarke and Twiggs. His second in command, Dupoister, pursued 
hard and fast after the mountain men as they retired, after their 
victory at Enoree, to their mountain fastnesses. Ferguson him- 
self, with the main body of his army, followed close upon the heels 
of Dupoister, determined to retake the prisoners or support his 
second in command, if he should overtake and engage the escaping 
enemy. Finding that his efforts were fruitless, Ferguson took 
post at a place then called Gilbert Town, near the present Ruther- 
fordton, in North Carolina. From this place he sent a most 


36 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


threatening message by Samuel Phillips, a paroled prisoner, that 
if the officers west of the mountain did not lay down their op- 
position to the British arms, he would march his army over, burn 
and lay waste their country and hang their leaders. 

“Tt has always been believed, and so stated in histories, that 
the nucleus or kernel of Ferguson’s forces at King’s Mountain 
who did all the fighting there were British regulars. This is so 
far from being the case that it can be clearly shown that those who 
were termed British regulars were Loyal American Volunteers, 
picked out as a rule, from three (two New York and one New 
Jersey) Loyal battalions. There were, undoubtedly, one or two 
British regular officers present, selected for peculiar qualities which 
adapted them to the service in hand, and there may have been in- 
dividual British regular soldiers incorporated for their proficiency 
as marksmen. As at Oriskany, the turning point of the war and 
the bloodiest action for the numbers engaged at the North, so at 
King’s Mountain, the turning point of the war and the deadliest 
for numbers who actually fought in it at the South, the Conflict 
was one between Americans, Americans drilled to fight as regular 
soldiers, and Americans instinctively trained to bushwhack as 
guerrillas. While the event at King’s Mountain was exactly the 
reverse of the immediate issue at Oriskany, the course and conse- 
quences of both were the same; the discomfiture of the British 
plans of conquest, and a rapid ebb, which, owing to foreign inter- 
vention, never knew a flood corresponding to the previous high- 
tide. 

“Those who, writing in the interest of truth, have striven to 
divest stories of the Revolution of the myths which envelop them 
like an atmosphere, have always maintained that Ferguson’s corps 
has been invariably exaggerated both as to numbers and efficiency, 
and the force of his opponents diminished to satisfy the popular 
craving for the marvelous triumph achieved by undiciplined back- 
woodsmen and mountainers over regulars and oppressors. The 
fact is Ferguson did not know from day to day what numbers he 
did have in camp. This statement is attested by a disinterested 
military witness. His strength fluctuated in accordance with the 
hopes, fears or passions of the population favorable to the Royal 
cause. No real general, endowed with ordinary judgment, has 
ever placed any reliance in Militia. Washington is emphatic 
in regard to their unreliability if not absolute worthlessness, and 
he is corroborated by a number of our own best, as well as 
observant French officers who served with him. 


“It is a great error to even suppose that this body of 3,000 
American Whigs, the number reported by General Davidson writ- 
ing of this assemblage at Gilbert Town, 10th October, 1780, were 
new to the exigencies and dangers of battle. Their fighting qual- 
ities could not.be regarded as otherwise than respectable by pro- 
fessional soldiers, except those whose judgments were bounded - 
by the narrowest horizon and distorted by senseless prejudice. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 37 


These valley and mountain men had been born and had grown up 
in an atmosphere of danger. From their earliest years they had 
breathed in powder-smoke, if not in actual set battles, in more 
perilous struggles with fierce wild beats and adversaries like the 
Indians, as dangerous in their ferocity and more so in the union of 
cunning, weapons and combination. Many of them had been 
acclimated to something like regular war by engagements, skirm- 
ishes and collisions with Loyal uprisings and regular forces. They 
were of totally different and far better stuff than the militia who 
threw down their arms after a single scattering discharge, or with- 
out firing at all, and fled from Camden, leaving their regular com- 
rades to certain destruction. If they were not regular soldiers 
they were brave men and stalwart adversaries, and if they did not 
understand the tactics of the Continentals, they had tactics of . 
their own which suited the region in which they had to operate. 
The tactics of the associated Whigs Colonels, whoever suggested 
and whatever inspired them, were unexceptionable, and as applied 
by Cleveland, worthy of the stratagem of Hannibal, which implies 
the highest commendation. They were far superior to those of 
Ferguson. From what few facts are known of his plans, except 
through an unfortunate result, his simply seemed to be, ‘Imitate 
my own and my Provincials’ comtempt of death and our de- 
votion. Remember this, and show yourselves men.’ ‘The British 
tactics were those of the Romans, complete in the valor that 
dies fighting but does not conquer the aggregated craft and cour- 
age of men skilled in the use of firearms. 

“The aspect of the storm clouds, portending a veritable cyclone, 
gathering upon the neighboring mountains, was too indicative to 
have an effect upon even such a fearless man as Ferguson. It 
seems to have demorilized the Loyalist of this section. His cir- 
cular letter to overcome its effects and their timidity, of the Ist 
October, breathes of indignation and contempt which alone could 
have induced an elegant gentleman to pen such a scathing appeal, 
in the roughest Saxon, to even tepid manhood. He broke up his 
camp at Gilbert Town after sending out these missives, and sent 
two messages to Cornwallis at Charlotte to reveal his own crit- 
ical situation, and to ask for a reinforcement. ‘Three days after, 
on the 4th, he marched southward over the main branch of Broad 
River to the Cow Pens. On the 5th he wheeled to the left, or east, 
marched to Tates, since Dears, (Davis’s) (?) Ferry, recrossed the 
Broad River, and camped about a mile above. On the 6th he 
marched about fourteen miles, and pitched his camp on an emin- 
ence now known as King’s Mountain. 

“Here a question presents itself which is insoluble to the 
closest scrutiny and analysis. From Gilbert Town to Charlotte, 
by a road distinctly marked on Tarteton’s map, was less than 
fifty miles, and from Gilbert Town by the route Ferguson follow- 
ed was seventy miles, and looking at the system of roads laid down 
on the maps of the period, it would seem to have been almost as 


38 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


easy to proceed direct to Charlotte as to make the circuit that he did. 
The Americans did not reach Gilbert Town until the 4th October. 
Ferguson’s retreat emboldened them and hastened their pursuit. 
They followed exactly the route he took, and they did not over- 
take him until the afternoon of the 7th. ‘This shows he had over 
five days start of them, which at the rate he marched would have 
carried him into Charlotte, or brought him within the reach of 
the helping hand of Cornwallis. There are only two explanations 
for Ferguson’s movements. Either he expected to be reinforced 
by Tory orginizations, or he did not know the extent of the force 
about to overwhelm him. The latter alternative contradicts re- 
ceived opinions, and is the best proof that he acted in accordance 
with a plan which he considered judicious, a plan which he carried 
into the grave with him. 

‘The epithet Tories has been used immediately above for the 
first time because if the large parties of Tories who were collect- 
ing along the route passed over by the Americans had been true- 
hearted Loyalists, they would not have left Ferguson in the lurch 
to perish in the trap into which he had been lured by delusive prom- 
ises of support. At the Cow Pens, 6th October, the Whigs were 
informed that a body of 600 Tories were assembled at Major Gibbs’, 
four miles to their right, and would join Ferguson the next day. 
On the morning of the 7th Ferguson was within 15 or 20 miles of 
these Tories, and if they had simply followed up the Americans 
as the latter followed Ferguson, they could have fallen upon the 
rear of the Americans, captured or stampeded their horses, and 
taken the associated Whig Colonels in the very act. Judging 
from the few known facts of which historians are in possession, 
such Tories deserved the epithet with which Cleveland stigmatized 
them in his battle-speech. 

‘Before entering upon a description of the battle, this appears 
to be the proper point at which to settle the numbers engaged. 
General Davidson, (Gates papers), wrote that 3,000 men were 
assembled at Gilbert Town on the Ist October. Ramsey, (228), 
says ‘scarce a single gunman remained that day, 25th September, 
at his own house.’ The first rendezvous had been at Watauga 
on the 25th September. ‘This place is beyond the Stone Moun- 
tains, in the present state of Tennessee, further to the northwest of 
Gilbert Town than the latter is west of Charlotte. This proves 
that there was no force between Ferguson and Cornwallis on the 
lst October, nor for three days afterwards, to militate against a 
safe retreat to Charlotte. Ferguson was not afraid of the ‘moun- 
tain men,’ but he knew that he did not have numbers sufficient to 
cope with the force nor the kind of force which was marching 
against him. Like any wise commander he fell back on his sup- 
ports, and they proved the veriest Pharaoh’s reeds. 

“How many men did Ferguson actually have? McKenzie 
says that his militia constituted ‘a fluctuating body, whose num- 
-bers could not be depended on as they increased or diminished, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 39 


with the report of the day.’ Allaire’s estimate foots up 906 or 
- 907, which agrees more closely with the majority than the facti- 
tious calculation founded on the ration return, so often quoted, 
E125; 

“In regard to the American Whigs, their organization and 
-qnarch, there are a number of clear indications to establish the 
correctness of Ramsey’s account. ‘he first spontaneous assem- 
blage of the improvised column of backwoodsmen and their as- 
sociated colonels was at the Sycamore Shoals, or Watauga, on the 
Watauga River, then in the northwest corner of North Carolina, 
or now over in the border in Northeastern Tennessee, on the 25th 
September. 

“The associated Whig forces consisted of Colonel Shelby’s 
240 from Sullivan County, then in the northwest corner of North 
Carolina, now in East Tennessee; of Colonel John Sevier’s (Xav- 
ier’s) 240 men, from Washington County, then in the northwest 
North Carolina, now a part of East Tennessee; of Colonel Charles 
McDowell’s 160 refugees from Burke and Rutherford Counties, 
western North Carolina, who had fled before the Loyalists to the 
western waters across the mountains; and of Colonel Willam 
Campbell’s command 400 men, from Washington County, south- 
west portion of Virginia, bordering on Tennessee. ‘This made 
1,040 mounted riflemen. On the 26th, these began their first 
march, passing along the valley of Gap creek, and encamped the 
first night at Talbot’s Mill. ‘The staff was incomplete; rather, 
there was no staff; no quartermaster, no commissary, no surgeon, 
no chaplain. As in all their Indian campaigns, being mounted 
and not encumbered with baggage, their motions were rapid. Each 
man, each officer, set out with his trustworthy Deckhard on his 
shoulder. ‘A shot pouch, a tomahawk, a knife, a knapsack and a 
blanket, completed the outfit. At night, the earth afforded hima 
bed, and the heavens a covering, the mountain stream quenched 
his thirst; while his provision was procured from supplies acquired 
on the march by his gun.’ Some beeves were driven in the rear, 
to furnish subsistence while in the settlements, but they impeded 
the rapidity of the march, and after the first day, were abandoned. 
After passing the mountain, the troops, sparing the property of 
the Whigs, quartered and: subsisted upon the Tories.’ On the 
27th they continued on, following Bright’s Trace across the Yellow 
Mountain, almost due north of Gilbert Town. At the foot of the 
Alleghanies proper, 16 to 18 miles distant from Gilbert Town, 
they were joined on the 30th by Colonel Benjamin Cleveland and 
Major Jacob Winston with 350 to 400 men from Wilkes and Surrey 
Counties, Northwestern North Carolina. 


“From the Ist to 3d October no movement was made. Ramsey 
(231) says because the weatlter was so wet. Here Colonel Camp- 
bell was selected to command, to avoid entrusting the office to 
Colonel McDowell, because the latter was considered as ‘ too far 
advanced in life and too inactive for the command of such an enter- 


40 ANDREW JACKSON AND HARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


prise as we were then engaged.’ Colonel Campbell was made the 
leader at the suggestion of Shelby to reconcile difficulties, “not 
on account of any superior talent or experience he was supposed 
to possess.’ Colonel Charles McDowell then turned over his 
command to his brother, Major Joseph McDowell, and set out . 
to communicate the condition of things to General Gates and con- 
sult with him. Here, on Green River, or at Gilbert Town, Wednes- 
day, 4th October, the American forces, according to Davidson, 
‘formed a conjunct body, consisting of 3,000; from this body 
were selected 1,600 good horse, who immediately went in pursuit 
of Colonel Ferguson, who was making his way to Charlotte.’ 
Colonel Shelby says, ‘On the next night, 5th (?) it was determined, 
in the council of officers, to pursue him unremittingly with as many 
of our troops as could be well armed and well mounted, leaving the 
weak horses to follow on as fast as they could. We accordingly 
started about light next morning with 910 men thus selected. Con- 
tinuing diligently our pursuit all that day, we were joined at the 
Cow Pens on the 6th by Colonel John Williams of S. C.,and several 
field officers, with about 400. men.’ 

“Mark this: it is most important testimony from the highest 
authority, and determines that the American numbers were from 
1,310 to 1,370 in the fight, because at the Cow Pens the 910 selected 
out of the first aggregate were joined by 60 men from the Lincoln 
County, west of Gilbert Town, in North Carolina, and about 400 
under Colonel John Williams from the Spartanburg District, then 
embracing the whole circumjacent country of South Carolina, 
which furnished the guides, whose pilotage had as much to do with 
Ferguson’s defeat as any other cause. Although referred to in 
several other places, it may be as well to mention it here that 
Williams is said to have had in his pocket a commission as Brig- 
adier-General from Governor Rutledge of South Carolina, and 
that he it is, not Campbell (according to Allaire), whom the British 
considered as commanding against them on the 7th. 

“For the last thirty-six hours of the pursuit the Americans 
did not dismount but once. This was at the Cow Pens. About 
12 m., of Saturday, the 7th, the advance guards met some wnarmed 
men who had just quitted Ferguson, and from them his position 
was accurately ascertained. The rain, which had poured down 
all the previous morning, ceased shortly after noon, and the sun 
shone out brightly. A council of war was held, dispositions made 
for the attack, and its course determined, to surround their enemy 
and attack him on all sides simultaneously. Then the riflemen, 
and without breaking their fast, or taking any rest, moved on to 
assume their stations around the fatal hill. Within a mile of the 
Loyal position, a messenger was arrested bearing a dispatch from 
Ferguson to Cornwallis, urging the latter to hurry forward rein- 
forcements. ‘This paper is said to have stated the number under 
the command of Ferguson. What number did it mention? What 
became of the paper? Why was it never textually quoted? It 
would settle the disputed question of the British force. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 4] 


“The King’s Mountain range extends northerly and southerly 
about sixteen miles with several lateral spurs. The highest peak 
of this system might be recognized in Crowder’s Knob, crowning 
a northeasterly radiation in North Carolina, while the most prom- 
inent summit in the opposite direction at the end of a southeastern 
rowel is Henry’s Knob, north by west of Yorkville, in South Caro- 
lina. Although the elevation of King’s Mountain, proper, is 
given at 1,500 feet above the sea level, that portion of the ridge 
on which the battle was fought, about a mile and one-half south of 
the dividing line between north and South Carolina, does not rise 
more than 100 feet above depressions drained by adjacent streams. 

“At the very outset, in describing the battle-ground a difficulty 
occurs. According to Map XIl., accompanying Marshall’s Life 
of Washington, and likewise the beautiful map attached to Tar- 
leton’s history of his campaigns of 1780-1, there is a road or wagon- 
track distinctly laid down on the first, leading from the Cow Pens, 
by the Cherokee Ford, to Ramsour’s Ferry, and thence to Char- 
lotte; on the second from the Cherokee Ford—the Cow Pens, where 
Morgan routed Tarleton is omitted—to Tryon, half way to Ram- 
sour’s (Ransower’s?), and thence by the Great Tuckesege (To- 
gaseechee) Ford, of the Catawba, to Charlotte, eighteen miles to 
the southeast, where Cornwallis lay with the main body of the 
British army. (L. F. B. A. R., 11.627). From Clarke’s Fork of 
(Buffalo?) Creek (Lossing calls it ‘Kings’ Creek, which, if cor- 
rect, would solve a multitute of difficulties), which is shown on the 
plan to the eastward of Ferguson’s right, is almost imperceptible 
to the group or series of greater or lesser undulations among which 
the collision occurred. ‘These hills, gravelly, sparsely strewn with 
a few small boulders, aré covered with hard and soft wood, some 
grand trees, but mostly a smaller growth of post-oaks, laurel and 
sorrel. ‘The large trees stand far apart, and even the lesser ones 
are not close together, so that they present scarcely any impedi- 
ments to the movements of troops. The big trees afforded ex- 
cellent cover for riflemen, who, stealing from one to another, 
found in them admirable temporary screens, (blindages) or mant- 
lets to protect their approaches. In fact they might be compared 
to the huge shields of which the English archers—the sharpshoot- 
ers of the period prior to the introduction of firearms—availed 
themselves for protection while clearing the works of a besieged 
place of their defenders. Lossing, who saw it many years ago, 
justly observes ‘it was a strange place for an encampment or a 
battle; and to one acquainted with that region, it is difficult to 
understand why Ferguson and his band were there at all.’ ‘This 
is the most logical conclusion, and the artist’s sketch reveals the 
locality, which would seem to be the very last which a professional 
soldier would select whereon to make a stand against a prepond- 
erating force of the best marksmen in the world. 

, “The whole fighting was done within an area of less than half 
of that of Madison Square, (N. Y. city), and some correct idea of 


42 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSER History 


it may be had by supposing that the American Whigs occupied the 
_ surrounding houses and picked off the British Loyalists in the 
open square from the windows, until, finally, when the troops in 
the square are pretty much killed, disabled, or demoralized, the 
Whigs made a simultaneous rush from the houses and captured the 
remainder. ‘The cleared area or bare summit of the King’s Moun- 
tain range, ‘narrow, stony ridge’ on which Ferguson pitched his 
camp, has an outline not unlike that of an Indian paddle, with the 
end of the blade pointing south of west; ‘the shadow of the timber 
at half-past one P. M. ranging with its median line.’ Colonel 
Shelby states that the Loyalists ‘were encamped on. an eminence 
called King’s Mountain, extending from east to West, which on 
its summit was about 500 to 690 yards long and 60 or 70 broad.’ 
These bearings must be correct, because they reconcile contradic- 
tions, and explain why Ferguson fronted as he did, which would 
be inexplicable if his line of battle faced as General Graham would 
make it, according to the shadow. Graham sets down the length 
of Ferguson’s encampment (line (?) at 80 poles (1,300 feet), which 
does not contradict Shelby. After an examination of perhaps one 
hundred authorties, it is still extremely difficult to reconcile many 
of the particulars. It is most consistent however, to believe that 
Ferguson’s line fronted southerly and easterly, with his camp on 
the left, occupying pretty much the open space from 1,170 to 
1,320 feet in length and some 210 feet in width. If such is not 
the case the American reports go to water. 

“Still, in justice to a soldier of so much ability as Ferguson is 
admitted by friend and foe to have been, the selection of the battle 
ground must have been due to some good reason. It is very likely 
that he chose an open place that he might have militia under 
complete and constant supervision, fearing that if he fought in the 
woods his levies might instantly or quickly dissolve under a hot 
fire if not under his own eyes or those of his trusted subordinates, 
‘in whom,’ (asin their immediate commanders), Mckenzie assures 
us, ‘perfect confidence might on all occasions be placed.’ As to the 
militia the same contemporaneous authority is far less compli- 
mentary. He says that in the course of this campaign, Ferguson 
had ‘from one to two thousand militia, a fluctuating body, whose 
numbers could not be depended upon, as they increased or diminished 
with the report of the day.’ No one would dare question the fact 
that many of these Loyalists were animated by the highest senti- 
ments of honor and duty, but what could have been the principles 
of the majority, when Colonel Martin Armstrong, in command 
in Surrey County, in North Carolina, and in charge of those cap- 
tured at King’s Mountain 7th October, in writing to General 
Gates on the 7th November, states ‘the Torie prisoners all en- 
listed into the Continental Service, excepting a Small number, 
which the Justices have committed to Halifax, there being but 
a few of the British.’ Such sudden conversions, or pervisions, 
would indicate very little constancy, unless they transferred their 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 43 


services to the enemy, with the intention of deserting as soon as 
possible again, and so get home and rid of military service alto- 
gether. 

“Why Ferguson made such an eccentric retreat is easily ex- 
plained. The approach of the associated Colonels frightened the 
Loyalists. Instead of joining Ferguson in the numbers expected 
they left him and went home. Conscious that his force was too 
weak to stem the approaching torrent, he marched southwards, 
having every reason to believe that he would be joined, day after 
day, by bodies of Loyalists already assembled in arms. One body 
of 600 was within a few miles of him when he fought his last battle, 
and yet did not hasten to his assistance. These might have fallen 
upon the flank and rear of the Americans whilst fully occupied 
with Ferguson, just as the Prussians took Napoleon in flank and 
rear at Waterloo. The only excuse for their inaction is to believe 
that they were infected by the recollection of the fate of Boyd’s 
men at Kettle Creek in 1779, of Moore’s Loyal levies at Ramsour’s 
Mills, and those of Bryan at the Catawba in midsummer, 1780. 


“At, or near, the Cows Pens, which is not more than fifty 
miles north of Ninety-Six, Ferguson received the letter, found on 
his dead body, from Cruger, dated at ‘96,’ 3d October, giving 
him to understand that he could expect no assistance from that 
quarter. ‘This communication is a curious one. It shows that 
Cruger at all events, if none of others, comprehended the situation. 
It disillusionized Ferguson. Hitherto he had been falling back to 
the south; he now wheeled off to the northeast towards Cornw allis 
at Charlotte. This new route gave him a double chance of sup- 
port, since Tarleton was operating in the intermediate district, 
and the victorious Americans retreated at once for fear that Tar- 
leton would fall upon them with a fury which nothing as yet had 
stayed, and with a sabre which knew no mercy. 

“Ferguson is charged with being afraid of the force pursuing 
him, whereas, in a private communication to his commander, he 
expresses almost contempt for the very adversaries from whom 
he was said to be fleeing. Ferguson failed from over-confidence, 
not want of it. Ev erything goes to show that his militia did not 
fulfill his expectations. It is pretty well established by the con- 
current testimony on both sides that all the real fighting was done 
by the 70 to 100 provincial regulars, and the pick of the Tories or 
Loyalists. 

“About 3 P. M. the Americans, having dismounted and se- 
cured their horses out of gunshot and left them under a sufficient. 
guard, advanced to the attack in three columns, under the guidance 
of men who knew every inch of the ground, on nine or ten different 
routes, as clearly laid down in the plan, 

‘As hunters round a hunted creature draw.’ . 

“The idea that Ferguson could have cut his way through and 
escapted seems very fallacious. A body of infantry, encumbered 
with baggage, could scarcely expect to escape or elude the pursuit 


45 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


of superior numbers of mounted riflemen, on hardy horses, without 
any encumbrance whatever. Had Ferguson as soon as he knew 
that he was followed up so closely and in force, he might have 
saved his men. Still such a retreat would have been little better 
than a flight, and its effect, except as regards his own personal 
safety, which a man of his character would not take into account, 
must have been almost as disastrous for the cause which he rep- 
resented as the defeat which did ensue. 


“In the absence of reliable information, and its disappearance 
or destruction through lapse of time, it is but equitable to believe - 
that Ferguson had good reasons for every step of the course he 
pursued. Unquestionably he had a professional soldier’s contempt 
for all militia, and it was through striking on this ‘rock of offense’ 
‘that his bark was so injured that it foundered in the storm that 
followed. Of one fact, which might have exercised an important 
influence upon his decision to stand or retreat, he could not have 
known. The mounted riflemen who ‘fought the battle were 
fasting and almost famished.’ Consequently, as the country 
could not have afforded provisions, they would have had to break 
up in a few hours to obtain the necessaries of life. One day’s 
respite would have carried Ferguson to Charlotte where Cornwallis 
lay in force. Davidson says that Ferguson was making his way 
to this point. Unfortunately for him he did not respect his ad- 
versaries sufficiently to allow their approach to hurry his march 
until it was too late. 

“Ferguson’s Provincial regular detachment, some seventy dis- 
ciplined infantry, were on his right. The only way to account for 
his deployment, is to believe that from the manner in which 
his adversaries showed themselves at different points, he could not 
make out from what quarter he might expect the principal attack. 
Therefore, he faced in the direction in which the mass of the enemy 
was first distinguishable. 

“With the controversy as to who exercised command among the 
Americans ( G. P. 4, Gates recognizes no chief) this article has 
nothing to do. Popular~history, almost always incorrect, assigns 
it to Campbell. The only discoverable statement on the British 
side, reads as if the British considered that Brigadier-General 
Williams enjoyed it, and that it devolved on Campbell after he 
was mortally wounded. The Shelby papers, published in this 
Magazine, (V. 351), embodying affidavits, certainly make Shelby 
the prominent figure, and place Campbell in a very unfavorable 
light. Whoever issued the preliminary order was alive with sold- 
ierly instinct. One more laconic and at the same time apposite 
has scarcely ever been given. ‘Tie up overcoats, pick touchholes, 
fresh prime, and be ready to fight.’ As Cleveland’s subsequent 
speech to his immediate command, the American extreme left, 
was as pertinent as this order, and as splendid a specimen of au- 
thenticated battle oratory as can be found, it is only fair to credit 
him with the inspiration of the Spartan order for battle. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 45 


“According to ‘ the statement which has generally been adop- 
ted,’ Colonel Cleveland led off the dance, and Lossing (F. B. A. 
R., 11., 631), who says he copied from the original report among 
Gate’s Papers, and furnishes fac simzles of signatures, places Ben- 
jamin Cleveland first, Issac Shelby second, and William Camp- 
bell last. The writer’s copy of this document reverses that 
arrangement. Whatever Cleveland’s rank he seems to have been 
the animating spirit of, just as to Shelby is due the credit of orig- 
inating the plan of the campaign, and to have been the author of 
‘that great partisan’s miscarriage.’ Imediately after he encount- 
ered a picket of the enemy he delivered the following spirited and 
sagacious address to his men, pertinent to the occasion, and so full 

of common sense that it fits every other similar character: “My 
brave fellows, we have beat the Tories, and we can beat them 
again. They are all cowards; if they had the spirit of men thay 
would join their fellow-citizens in supporting the independence of 
their country. When you are engaged, you are not to want (wait) 
for the word of command from me. I will show you by my exam- 
ple, how to fight; I can undertake no more. Every man must consider 
himself an officer, and act from his own judgment. Fure as quick 
as you can, and stand your ground as long as you can. When you 
can do no better, get behind trees, or retreat; but I beg you not 
to run quite off. If we are repulsed, let us make a point of return- 
ing and renewing the fight; perhaps we may have better luck in 
the second attempt than in the first. If any of you are afraid, 
such shall have leave to retire, and they are requested immediately 
to take themselves off.’ 

“Shelby gives the strength of each attacking column in the 
following words: ‘The right wing or column was led by Colonel 
Sevier and Major Winston, together with Major McDowell’s com- 
mand, which had been considerably augmented during the march; 
the leit by Colonels Cleveland and Williams; and each of these 
wings was about as strong as Campbell’s regiment (400), and nine 
(240) united composing the centre. Three times 400 plus 240 
makes, 1,920, which justifies the Loyal Lieutenant Anthony AI- 
laire’s opinion of the vast superiority of the Whig Americans, and 
other statements to the same effect.’ Honest Shelby likewise 
admit: “This (the quasz official) report, however, omits to mention 
***Colonel McDowell’s command***had been considerably aug- 
mented during the march by men who had formerly belonged to it.’ 

“Mrs. Mercy Warren, who enjoyed great oppertunities to learn 
the truth, whose ‘History of the Revolution’ was ‘long considered 
a standard authority,’ uses an expression which can mean noth- 
ing else than that the British were swarmed out; ‘though the 
British commander exhibited the valor of a brave and magnan- 
imous officer, and his troops acquitted themselves with vigor and 
spirit, the Americans, who in great numbers surrounded them, 
won the day.’ 

“Whether Campbell did or did not lead his immediate men, 
but supervised, is not clear, or whether Shelby commenced the 


46 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


movement, ascending the eastern end of the mountain to attack 
Ferguson’s left. The firing soon became so heavy in this quarter 
that Ferguson brought over from his right, a portion of his 
Provincial regulars under de Peyster, his second in command, 
and with these, supported by some of the Loyalist militia, who had 
previously whittled down the handles of their butcher knives so 
that they could be inserted in the muzzles of their rifles and serve 
as bayonets, made a brisk charge, which pushed Shelby and Camp- 
bell and McDowell, who came to their assistance on the left, down 
the mountain. At this juncture the American left column under 
Cleveland ascended the hill and engaged the British right where 
Ferguson himself was present. This portion of his line was 
protected in a measure by the baggage wagons and some slight 
defenses hastily constructed. These were of no avail, because 
while the elevation on which the British line was formed secured 
the Americans from any chance whatever of suffering from cross- 
fires of their friends on either side of it, the British were exposed 
to being hit by shots coming in from every quarter, so that if they 
attempted to shelter themselves from the bullets of one American 
column, they were immediately subjected to the danger of being 
killed by ‘shots raining in from the opposite direction. Ferguson, 
subjected to pressure on his right, immediately recalled his second 
in command from his left, and the latter retraced his steps length- 
wise the ridge under a galling fire from the South Carolinians under 
Williams. Then with the whole of his Provincial regulars, he drove 
the Americans to the west foot of the hill. As yet Ferguson, en- 
veloped on the east, front and west, had experienced no dis- 
turbance in the rear, and some critics assert that he might have 
escaped in this direction on the road to Charlotte. It is not like- 
ly that the brave officer who had already repulsed every assault upon 
his position would have abandoned it without a further attempt 
for victory. ‘This outlet, however, was almost immediately closed. ' 
Major Winston, who on starting, had the longest detour to make, 
became so far separated from columns, next to his left, by the in- 
tervention of a steep hill that he lost sight and hearing of them; 
while thus uncertain, he was hailed and directed to dismount 
and ascend the hill. Expecting to encounter the British on this 
hill he did so, but before his men had advanced two hundred paces 
from their horses they were again hailed and directed to return to 
their animals, mount them, and push on because the enemy were 
a mile beyond. ‘Thereupon they ran back to their horses, threw 
themselves into their saddles, and rode like fox-hunters on full run 
through the woods, until they came in upon the left rear of the 
British, where they were originally intended to fall in and com- 
plete the envelopment. ‘Nothing, says the narrator, but the 
interposition of Divine power could have conducted the said right- 
hand-column to so great advantage.’ Thus Winston, the last to 
come in to position, 

“‘Flow’d in, and settling, circled all the lists,’ 
and so, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 47 


‘From all the circles of hills,’ death sleeted in upon the doomed. 


“Shelby, always clear and honest, admits that the Americans 
were repeatedly repulsed by the British and driven down the 
mountain; that in the succession of repulses and attacks, and in 
giving succor to the points hardest pressed, much disorder took 
place in the Whig ranks ‘and confusion.’ ‘There is just as much 
confusion in the various accounts as to when Ferguson was killed 
and where he fell. Colonel Shelby says Ferguson was killed about 
one hundred yards down the western end of the mountain. Gen- 
eral Graham, in his drawing made on the spot, locates the place 
where the British commander fell, on the summit, directly opposite 
the South Carolina regiment of Williams, so that it is very likely 
that the two may have fallen near together, (as sometimes averred) 
but not at the same time. 

“Ramsey, quoting Foster, describes Ferguson as riding from 
one end of his line to the other, encouraging his men to prolong 
the conflict. With desperate courage he passed from one exposed 
point to another of equal danger. He carried in his wounded 
hand—(his left arm had been shattered at the Brandywine and was 
almost helpless)—a shrill sounding silver whistle, whose signal 
was universally known through the ranks, was of immense service 
throughout the battle, and gave a kind of ubiquity to his move- 
ments. 

“Rushing from one regiment to another, encouraging some and 
directing others, Major Ferguson performed prodigies of valor, 
when he was shot by an American rifleman, and Captain Abraham 
of “The King’s American Regiment,’ a Tory from New York, 
took the command. After the action had raged for an hour and 
five minutes the enemy raised a white flag, and surrendered them- 
selves at discretion. There is no direct proof that Captain de 
Peyster himself, even at the last, raised the flag. Shelby simply 
remarks, ‘ a white flag was soon after (the final Whig charge or 
closing in) hoisted by the enemy,’ without adding in what quarter 
ot by whom. Towards the last part of the action, which must 
have been some time after Ferguson had fallen, de Peyster, who 
had moved to and fro like a shuttle, determined to make one more 
bold attempt to wrest success from the menaced wreck. His fierce 
and gallant charge drove the Americans down the eastern slope of 
the mountain in a retreat which was so rapid that there was great 
danger of its becoming a rout. By this time, Lieutenant Allaire 
says that out of the ‘‘seventy (Provincial regulars) (exclusive of 
20 who acted as Dragoons and to who wagons, etc., when we 
marched to the field of action) all were killed and wounded but 
twenty, and those brave fellows were soon crowded into a heap by 
the militia,’ just as the frightened crew of a ship in a desperate 
situation will gather around their captain, and thus impede and 
neutralize the efforts of those who remain cool and willing to ‘try, 
try again.’ 


48 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE FLISTORY 


“In examing and comparing the testimony, it is clear that the 
Whigs lost a great many more than was reported. The statement 
of the associated Colonels reads twenty-eight killed and sixty 
wounded. In General Lenior’s corrected account he says ‘there 
were not near so many of the enemy (British) wounded as were of 
the Whigs, about forty of whom afterwards died of their wounds.’ 
Lieutenant Allaire mentions 123 wounded altogether, which, 
weighing Lenior’s language, would justify an estimate of British 
killed and died, 120; wounded, 123; Whigs killed and died, 68; 
wounded, over 150. The Provincial, who was prisoner, and whose 
account was afterwards printed, remarks, ‘I was pleased to see 
their (the Whigs) loss superior to ours.’ This corresponds almost 
exactly with Shelby’s account, that when the Americans could be 
rallied and turned in overwhelming force upon the scanty few. who 
had held them in check so gallantly, and, considering the circum- 
stances, so long, the British Provincial regulars and what Loyalists 
stood up to the work, retreated the whole length of Ferguson’s 
first deployment to the western extremity of the bare crest, where 
his camp had been originally pitched. Here on the level the 
horizontal volleys of the Provincial regulars first began to tell, 
when the American Whigs got up on to the plateau. It is admitted by 
friend and foe that not one of the Loyalists escaped; if so, Al- 
laire’s calculation of force, 906, or 908, proves itself, and Stedman 
corroborates it 960, Warren makes it only 850. 


“It was not a battle, it was a battue; a slaughter, parallel in 
circumstances, but not as to numbers, with the destruction of 
Roland and his corps in the defile of Roncesvalles, overwhelmed 
by the missiles of adversaries who shunned every attempt at an 
encounter hand to hand. 


“Our peope have always put too much reliance in militia, that 
is, militia proper, for if men have been subjected to real discipline 
and gone through a baptism of fire, they become soldiers what- 
ever may be the title applied to them; but then militia, in the 
accepted sense of the word is a misnomer. Colonel Cruger, as 
gallant an officer as ever drew a sword, wrote to Ferguson only 
four days before he fell: ‘I flattered myself they (the Tory militia) 
would have been equal to the mountain lads, and that no further 
call for the defensive would have been on this part of the Province. 
I begin to think our views for the present rather large. We have 
been led to this, probably, in expecting too much from the militia.’ 

“Not one of the British force escaped the catastrophe. It had 
been completely enveloped, and not a man could extricate himself 
- from the coil. The victors remained upon the field the night after 
the battle; the next day, 8th, was Sunday. The dead were buried 
at dawn, but not all; one at least was left to the birds and beasts 
of prey. Colonel Hanger wrote that the body of Colonel Ferguson 
was treated with every indignity and left above ground. 

If it was interred where his grave is indicated on the plan of Gen, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 49 


Graham, it may have been by some of his sorrowing men, since 
the severely wounded who could not march were left on the field, 
and the only surgeon carried off a prisoner. 

“A much more detailed statement was prepared, but space 
justly could not be conceded to it. With time, however, this 
article will be expanded into a volume, with original letters and 
various interesting collateral testimonies. Thus complete, it 
will be worthy of the interesting subject, and constitute a mem- 
orial to ‘the unfortunate brave.’ 

J. Watts de Peyster 


50 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


| 


CHAPTER 3. 


Letters of living persons who saw Andrew Jackson; 
Jackson's resignation from the United States 
Senate; Jackson's views on the tariff in 1824; 
Jackson's reply to the charge of being a “Mili- 
tary Chieftan’’; letter form Hon. James Maynard 
of Knoxville to the author; Jackson's letter 
declining appointment of Minister to Mexico. 


Po Sc 


Pale UFO ae Reese) 


In the spring of 1921, the author conceived that it would be 
of interest to Americans to know the name of any living person 
who saw General Andrew Jackson when living, and to learn any 
_ reminiscences such persons might have connected with him, and. 
especially, to learn any who may have talked to General Jackson 
or heard him talk to others. The story that such living witnesses 
might tell, the author thought, would be like the voice of Old Hick- 
ory speaking from the land across the border, ‘““The Undiscovered 
Country” that Hamlet tells about. 

In ‘‘Andrew Jacksonand Early Tennessee History,” Vol. 1, there 
is quoted a lengthy statement to the author by Mrs. Rachael Law- 
rence, now eighty-nine years of age, who is the daughter of Andrew 
Jackson, Jr., adopted son of General Jackson, and there is given 
as an illustration an exact reproduction of the room in which Gen- 
eral Jackson died, when and where Mrs. Lawrence, as a girl of 
twelve years, was present. Mrs. Lawrence is now living about 
two miles from the Hermitage. When this work was first pub- 
lished she was the only living person known to the author who saw 
General Jackson. 

Investigation has developed that there were, at the time the 
investigation was made, nine living persons besides Mrs. Lawrence 
who saw General Jackson, and the author has letters from each. 
They are, Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore; Rev. W. H. Norment 
of Whiteville, Tennessee; Howard Waldo of Campbell Hall, New 
York State; Judge John A. Fite of Lebanon, Tenn.; John B. Murrey 
of Franklin, Tennessee; J. W. Huddleston of Lebanon, Tennessee; 
L. Vesey of Memphis, Tennessee; J. W. Tilford of Nashville, 
Tennessee; and W. H. Hayes of Little Rock, Arkansas. Letters 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


The Healy Portrait, bought by the Ladies Hermitage Association of Tennessee for seven hundredand fifty 
Dollars. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 51 


from all of these are set out below. ‘Those of Cardinal Gibbons, 
Rey. Mr. Norment and Howard Waldo are sufficiently explana- 
tory as to their writers. Judge John A. Fite, who wrote from 
Florida, is a member of the old and distinguished Fite family of 
Tennessee, is a lawyer by profession, but, by reason of age, is not 
now practicing. He was a member of the Tennessee Legislature 
and for seven years Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. 
He made an enviable record on the bench. He was Colonel of the 
Seventh Tennessee Regiment in the Confederate Army, and grad- 
uated at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. He was 
captured during the Civil War and made a prisoner of war at 
Johnson’s Island. 

John B. Murrey, J. W. Huddleston, L. Vesey, J. W. Tilford, 
and W. H. Hayes are all men of highest integrity and standing 
wherever they are known, and are recognized as most valuable 
and upright citizens in the communities where they live. 

Chas. B. Sevier, of Harriman, Tennessee, near Knoxville, great 
grand-son of Governor John Sevier, has a fund of information ob- 
tained from his parents and remoter ancestors that is practically 
equivalent to first-hand, and, therefore, his statement is included 
in this list of letters. 


CARDINAL GIBBONS OF BALTIMORE TO THE AUTHOR. 
“CARDINAL’S RESIDENCE, 
“408 N. Charles St., 
“Baltimore. 
“July 14, 1920. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 


“My Dear Mr. Heiskell: 


“I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your two volumes con- 
taining the life of Andrew Jackson. For many reasons the life 
of this great President and statesman has been of great interest 
to me. 

“First, because I may regard him as the founder of the present 
Democratic party whose cornerstone is the assertion of individual 
liberty with recognition of lawful authority. 

“Secondly, I was always interested in Andrew Jackson for a 
personal reason. When I was an infant, in the year 1837, General 
Jackson received an ovation in Baltimore. The procession escort- 
ing him through the city happened to pass our residence and my 
mother held me up in her arms to contemplate the hero of New 
Orleans, the President of the United States. 


7 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


“T am reading your work from page 420 where you begin to 
treat of him personally and as far as I have gone I have been very 
much pleased with all that I have read. I was particularly charm- 
ed with your reference to Gov. Henry A. Wise and the noble tribute 
he pays to General Jackson and the moral character of his wife. 

“You refer to Governor Wise’s successful efforts in combating 
Know-Nothingism. I can verify that statement. His election 
occurred about the year I left New Orleans for College. February, 
his competitor was declared elected, which news brought dismay 
and sorrow to the citizens of New Orleans. But the city went 
wild with excitement and joy when a few days afterwards the news 
came announcing the election of Henry A. Wise. I enjoyed the 
personal acquaintance of Mr. Wise in Richmond among the early 
seventies and had the pleasure of dining with him and afterwards 
traveling with him. 

“T hope that the rest of the work will afford me as much pleas- 
ure and enlightenment as I have derived from the perusual of a 
good part of the first volume. Iam, 

‘Faithfully yours, 
“‘J. Card. Gibbons, 
‘Archbishop of Baltimore. 

“P.S. The thought has occurred to me that in publishing a 
further edition, the four hundred pages of the early history of 
Tennessee may be abbreviated or omitted, as they can be but of 
secondary interest to those living outside the state. Chief Justice 
Marshall in writing the Life of Washington devoted the best part 
of a volume to the early history of the Colonies and in a later 
edition he felt it his duty to omit or abridge those pages in order 
to please his publishers and readers.”’ 


THE AUTHOR’S REPLY. 
“July  29p 01920, 
“To His Eminence James, Cardinal Gibbons, 
“Archbishop of Baltimore, 
“408 North Charles Street, 
“Baltimore, Md: 
“Your Eminence: 

“I write to cordially thank you for your favor of July 14th, 
1920, and to express my pleasure over two statements contained in 
your letter. 

“First, that you saw Andrew Jackson. You are the second 
person I know of, now living, who saw Andrew Jackson. The 
other is Mrs. Rachael Jackson Lawrence, who is the daughter of 
General Jackson’s adopted son, and who is now living, at the 
age of eighty-seven, about two miles from the Hermitage, which 
is located twelve miles from Nashville, Tennessee. You will 
find an interview given me by Mrs. Lawrence in the History of 
Jackson, and also a history of the descendants of General Jackson’s 
adopted son. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 53 


“Mrs. Lawrence was present at General Jackson’s death, and 
was standing at the foot of the bed. You will see this bed in an 
illustration in the book, located in the room just as it was when 
General Jackson died. Mrs. Lawrence was at the foot of this bed. 

“Second, you saw and was personally acquainted with Governor 
Henry A. Wise, of Virginia. I am a great admirer of Governor 
Wise, and I did not know of any American citizen who knew him. 
He died in the early seventies. If, while writing this book, I had 
known that you were personally acquainted with him, I would 
have bcen tempted to ask you to give me any reminiscences you 
might have connected with the Governor, and also your opinion of 
him. I have always felt that his canvass against Know-Nothing- 
ism in the State of Virginia, and which brought about the death 
of that party, entitled him to be ranked as a real friend of American 
liberty and as a grand advocate of freedom of thought and opin- 
ion in America. 

“T note that you are reading the book from page 420, and I 
hope it will give you some measure of the pleasure it gave me in 
writing it. 

“With highest regard to Your Eminence, I beg to remain, 

“Very truly yours, 
“S. G. Heiskell.”’ 


REV. W. M. NORMENT TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Whiteville, Tenn., Feb. 18, 1921. 


Hon. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 


“Dear Sir: 

“In answer to yours of the 15th inst. will say I feel proud to 
write a reminiscence of a visit to the Hermitage to see General 
Jackson. 

“TI was a boy of fifteen years of age, at school at Cumberland 
University at Lebanon. Hearing that the General was becoming 
very feeble, about fifteen of us boys and young men, decided to 
visit him in his home, which we did. 

“We were received by Mr. Andrew Jackson Donelson and 
given the privilege of seeing the house and surroundings. In the 
parlor we saw his duelling pistols on the table, his sword hanging 
on the wall and many other relics and trophies from battles he 
had fought; among them a log with a spear stuck in it which log 
had been taken from one of the battle-fields. Mr. Donelson said 
the General was indisposed that morning but would receive us 
in the afternoon. 

“Accordingly in the afternoon we repaired to his room. When 
we entered, he was seated in an arm-chair with a little silver pipe, 
smoking. Each boy stepped forward and gave his hand and name 
and where from. When all were seated, one of the older boys 


54 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


got up and made a short talk and expressed that all the boys were 
eager to meet and see the Hero of New Orleans; that we were at 
school preparing for the duties of life. 

‘*The General then expressed his appreciation and gave us a 
hearty, fatherly talk upon the responsibilities of life, of church 
and state, especially of the Christian life, and that soon we would 
be called upon to assume the duties of those then in action. His 
talk, or exhortation, lasted some 15 or 20 minutes. On bidding us 
goodbye he shook our hand warmly, and, to each one expressed the 
hope that we would fulfill our stations in life with credit to ourselves 
and the state. 

“This was about three weeks before his death. When hearing 
that he was dead, I, with others, decided to attend the burial. 
The funeral was preached by a Presbyterian Pastor from Nash- 
ville, standing on the front porch to a great concourse of people. 
His body was then taken by a military company and borne to the 
garden and placed beside his wife in a vault that he had prepared. 
A military salute was then fired and we left him there to rest in 
peace, to await the great resurrection morn. 

“Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a 
wicked parrot that was a household pet, got excited and commenced 
swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be 
carried from the house. 

‘And thus the man of nerve that won battles and guided the 
ship of State thru stormy scenes, had finished his work. ‘The 
late Judge Green was at the funeral. 

“T never saw either Polk or Johnson only when they were can- 
vassing the state for office. Mr. Polk’s sister, Mrs. Caldwell, 
attended my wedding in 1849; she was then living at Dancyville, 
Tenn. 

“T was born in a mile of this place, the 21st of September, 
1829; have been pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian church 
here since 1857. ; 

“Hoping these few notes will be of some benefit to you, and 
wishing you success, 

“TI am sincerely, 
“Rev. W. M. Norment, 
Per Fannie Norment.” 


HOWARD WALDO TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Campbell Hall ieee 
“Feb. 9, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
wean oir 


“Since Mr. Waldo is unable to answer your letter himself, I 
(his wife), am doing so for him and will be glad to give you what 
information we can on the portrait. Mr. Waldo’s recollections 
of General Jackson are naturally very vague. As a boy he was 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 55 


not allowed in the studio while his father was at work, so he only 
saw the general as he came or went from the house. He remem- 
bers him as a tall, very stern looking man with iron-gray hair 
which he wore cut quite short and in pompadour style. He was 
always dressed in citizen’s clothes when he came to the house. 
The uniform was put in by Mr. Waldo as he painted the picture. 
It was a life-size painting of the General on horseback, but Mr. 
Waldo does not remember ever seeing it when finished. His fa- 
ther took a sketch of Jackson’s head and shoulders on a wooden 
panel which was never touched except while the General was sit- 
ting for it. Then he painted the portrait on canvas from that 
sketch. That original panel is now in the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art in New York City. It was painted in 1840 or 1841, as 
nearly as he can remember. 

“The people of the City of New Orleans commissioned Mr. 
Samuel L. Waldo to paint this portrait to be placed in their cus- 
tom house in honor of Gen. Jackson’s victory at New Orleans 
over the British forces under Gen. Pakenham,who was killed in 
that battle. Mr. Waldo thinks the portrait is still in the old 
custom house. He never heard of its removal. The people of 
the City of New Orleans paid for it, not Gen Jackson. The price 
paid was $500, which was a good price in those days. He does 
not own a copy of it. 

“In regard to Daniel Webster, Mr. Waldo met him once on 
the street in New York and was impressed by his unusual appear- 
ance. He was a majestic man in appearance— all of six feet in 
height, very ‘erect, an unusually large head and peculiar smoky- 
black eyes. He wore a rough, long-napped beaver hat of a light 
gray color, a dark blue coat with plain brass buttons and buff 
vest and trousers. Mr. Waldo recognized him by pictures he 
had seen of him. 

“Hope this information will be of some value to you. Mr. 
Waldo is sorry he cannot remember more, but it is a great many 
years for a man of his age to look back. 

“Yours sincerely, 
“Mrs. Howard Waldo.” 


JUDGE JOHN A FITE TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Clearwater, Florida, 
“Feb. 24th, 1921. 
“Hon. S. G. Heiskell, 
Knoxville, Tennessee. 
“Dear Sir: 

“T am in receipt of your favor of the 16th inst., asking me to 
give you my recollection of seeing General Andrew Jackson; how 
he looked and how he was dressed, and under what circumstances 
I saw him. 

“T am sorry that I am unable to tell you but little that would 
interest anyone. In the first place, I was quite a small boy when 


56 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEF HISTORY 


I saw him, and only saw him one time and for a short time then. 
I suppose I was between eight and ten years old at the time. I 
was born the 10th of February, 1832, and consequently was eighty- 
nine years old the 10th of this month. 

“The way I came to see him was as follows: My father, with 
whom I lived, lived in Alexandria, about fifty miles from Nash- 
ville, nearly east. He and Major Goodner were partners in a store 
in Alexandria, and I think my father went to Nashville to buy 
goods for the store. For some time prior to that time my eyes 
had been very much affected and were being treated by Dr. 
Sneed, who advised my father to take me to Nashville and have 
Dr. Buchanan, a prominent physician of Nashville, treat my eyes. 
This, I suppose, was why I came to go at that time. We left 
Alexandria and went as far as Lebanon the first day and spent 
the night there, with a relative. I don’t know why we stayed 
there unless it was that my father had business there. I remem- 
ber hearing my father tell my cousin that night that he wanted to 
get off.early in the morning. So next morning after breakfast 
we left for Nashville. When we got down opposite the Hermitage, 
we left the main road and drove over to the Hermitage. When 
we got near to the house father hitched the animals we were 
driving and we went to the house. We were met at the door by 
aservant. My father told him he wanted to see General Jackson 
He asked us to take a seat in the hall. He was gone but a very 
short time when he came back and escorted us to General Jack- 
son’s room. General Jackson was sitting in his chair and, for 
some reason, did not get up. I remember his telling my father 
why he did not get up but don’t remember now what it was. He 
shook hands with us and asked us to be seated. I remember 
when he spoke to me he called me ‘Little Man’. I don’t think 
I had ever been called that before. 

“You asked me to tell you how General Jackson was dressed. 
I remember nothing particular about his dress. If there had been 
anything peculiar about it, I would likely have remembered it. 
I remember that I thought he was the oldest human being I had 
ever seen at that time. His hair was white and seemed to me to 
stand straight up. I don’t think he was at all bald-headed. My 
father and he talked for perhaps an hour— I don’t remember 
how long. After that my father said something about going and 
the old General insisted that we stay and take dinner. I think 
my father said he had an engagement to meet somebody in Nash- 
ville and was sorry he couldn’t stay. About the last thing I re- 
member his saying was to advise my father about the doctor’s 
treating my eyes. Weshook hands with the old General and left 
for Nashville where I stayed for a couple of months, having my 
eyes treated by old Doctor Buchanan. He finally cured them 
and I have good peepers to this day. 

“Sorry I don’t know more to tell you about General Jackson. 

“Yours very truly etc., 
John A. Fite. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 57 


JOHN B. MURREY TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Franklin, Tenn., Feby. 18th, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 

“Knoxville, Tenn. 
“Dear Sir: 


“T have your letter of the 16th inst. asking me to give you in 
writing my recollections of Genl. Andrew Jackson. As I was only 
a small boy at the time, and the only time I ever saw him, I can 
only describe him as he appeared to me, but his appearance is as 
clear to me now after the lapse of years as on the day I saw him. 

“T was born July 6th, 1822, at Triune, Tenn., about twenty 
miles southeast of Nashville. In 1832 I moved with my father to 
what is now East Nashville, and I recall that about 1833 or 1834 
(I suppose it must have been in 1834, as I learn General Jackson 
was in Nashville during the spring of that year, and at the time 
I was a small boy), General Jackson visited Nashville, and I re- 
member distinctly standing on the corner of the Square and Mar- 
ket Street and seeing him pass in a carriage. He had on what we 
then called a bee gum hat, and this hat he was continually taking 
off and bowing to the people. I also remember his appearance. 
He was tall and spare or thin and his hair was white. 

“This is the only time I saw him, for my father left Nashville 
in 1837 and moved to near Franklin, Tenn., and I but rarely visited 
Nashville in those days, being quite delicate and attending school 
when my health permitted. 

“T am sorry I am unable to give you any further information 
as it would be my pleasure to do so did I know of anything further 
regarding General Jackson. 

“Very truly yours, 
“JNO. B. MuRREY.”’ 
“Witness: 
“VV. M. Broadway.” 


J. W. HUDDLESTON TO THE AUTHOR. 
“Lebanon, Tenn., February 28, 1921. 


“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tennessee. 


' “My dear Sir: 

“When a boy four or five years old I lived within eight miles 
of the Hermitage, and once on my way from Nashville with my 
father, we stopped at the Hermitage and made General Jackson 
a visit. My recollection of him is that he was tall and slender and 
getting old and did not rise from his chair. He took me on his 
lap and was very kind and social. This is the only time I ever saw 
him and my recollection of him is very dim. 


58 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“My wife, Alice Robertson Huddleston, a granddaughter of 
General James Robertson, used to visit in his home and knew him. 
He gave her a lock of his hair to put in a locket with a lock of James 
Robertson’s and said he would like to have them in a locket to- 
gether. I was born January 11, 1833. 

“Yours very truly, 
“J. W. HUDDLESTON.”’ 


Note. The General James Robertson referred to was the 
founder of Nashville, Tennessee, and is frequently called the 
“Father of Middle Tennessee.” 


L. VESEY TO THE AUTHOR. 


‘‘Memphis, Tenn., Mch. 24, 1921. 
“Hon. S. G. Heiskell, 

“Knoxville, Tenn. 

Dear Sir: 

“In reply to yours of the 21st inst., would say: You know a 
boy of 5 or 6 years of age would not be very much impressed by 
even shaking hands with so distinguished a man as Gen’l. Jackson, 
and it made no particular impression on me. 

“At the time of my visit I think the General had been ill and 
was just recovering. When father and myself went in his home 
we found him sitting in a large easy chair with a book in his hand 
and smoking his inevitable cob pipe. I remember he looked feeble 
and did not arise, making some excuse for not doing so. He called 
me to his side, shook hands with me and asked me a few questions 
as to whether or not I attended school and whether or not I could 
read, etc. When I told him I could read, etc.,he patted me on the 
head and said I was a smart boy. He then called the negro girl 
who had shown us in and told her to take me out to the orchard 
to get some fruit. When I returned we soon left. 

“As I remember him he had a long face which was enhanced 
by the way his hair was roached back. His most distinguishing 
feature to me was his keen, hawk-like eyes. 

“TI took pleasure in forwarding your letter to Mrs. Semmes as 
requested. 

“Yours sc., 
“Mr. 1. Vesey” 


J. W. TILFORD TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Nashville, Tenn., March 1, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
“My dear Sir: 
“Your letter of February 24, 1921, asking me something about 
myself and about my seeing General Andrew Jackson a few months 
before his death, was duly received, and in reply, I write to say that 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 59 


I was born on the 2nd day of October, 1840, at Seven Springs, 
Wilson County, and have lived in Nashville, Tennessee, for years. 
I am, therefore, in my eighty-first year. 

““My grandfather, whose name was the same as mine, J. W. 
Tilford, was a Scotchman and spoke with the Scotch brogue, and 
lived at Silver Springs, Tennessee, some ten or twelve miles from 
General Jackson’s home, the Hermitage. My grand-father and 
General Jackson were strong personal friends,cronies, in fact, 
and went back and forth between each other’s homes frequently 
and with perfect freedom. They both liked a glass of good liquor 
and both were partial to Scotch whiskey, of which my grandfather, 
being a Scotchman and a democrat, usually kept some on hand. 
In those days, for a man to be known as owning a barrel of good 
Scotch whiskey was to make him’a very influential and exalted 
personage in his community; in fact, in the estimation of his friends, 
such a man came very nearly having royal blood in him, and it 
was known that my grandfather kept a barrel. 

“One day it came about that General Jackson was at my grand- 
father’s and I was there,and the two old cronies were having a great 
time eating and drinking Scotch and talking. The General was 
a mighty interesting talker when he was stimulated some, and my 
grandfather loved him. By degrees they became mellow, very 
social and very happy, and when finally in the afternoon it came 
time for the General to go home, it was hard to tell which was the 
happier of the two, and when they started out to the General’s 
carriage, where the colored driver sat up on the box in very impos- 
ing and grand style, the two old friends were each determined to 
support the other as they walked, so they embraced each other 
for support and in that way made their way to the carriage, and 
the driver came down from his perch and helped the General into 
the carriage and he went home. It has been many a long year 
since that day, but the picture of the General and my grandfather 
supporting each other on the way to the carriage is painted on my 
mind in distinct colors, and will never fade away as long as I live. 

“T wish you great success in collecting material for the third 
volume of your book ‘Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee His- 
tory,’ and I hope you will be able to bring out much interesting 
matter that has never been published by those historians who have 
heretofore written about Old Hickory. 

“Yours very truly, 
“J. W. Tilford.”’ 


MRS. W. H. HAYES TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Little Rock, Ark., March 23rd, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 
“Dear Sir: 
“In the Ark. Gazette of the 22nd, there is an article ‘Living 
Americans who saw Andrew Jackson.” 
“My husband, W. H. Haynes, as a boy knew Jackson well, 
as his father, Col. William Scott Haynes, lived in Nashville, 


60 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Tenn. My husband is an invalid from paralysis, which has caused 
him to lose his speech, only at times can I understand him. I 
read the papers aloud to him, and as I began reading your article 
he seemed very much excited, and began relating the story I 
have heard him tell many times, how Andrew Jackson would ride 
by his home, pick him from the yard (dirty or clean), put him up 
behind him, ride home, calling to his wife, ‘here is our boy’, many 
times asking Col. Haynes to give the boy to him. 

“Thinking this would please my husband, I write this. My 
husband of course is an old Confederate Soldier, 84 years old; 
enlisted in the Army Dec. 11th, 1861; was paroled by Maj. Gen’. 
Camby July 27, 1865, in New Orleans. 

‘Most sincerely, 
“Mrs. W. H. Haynes.” 


CHARLES B. SEVIER TO THE AUTHOR. 


‘Harriman, Tennessee, April 13, 1921. 
“Mr. S. G. Heiskell, 

“‘Knoxville, Tennessee. 
“My dear Sir: 

“Your favor of the 10th inst., asking me to give the line of my 
descent rom Governor John Sevier, and also any reminiscenees 
I may have heard any members of the Sevier family give of Gen- 
eral Andrew Jackosn, was duly received, and I beg to reply as 
follows: 

“T am the son of Elbridge Gerry Sevier, the grand-son of Ma- 
jor James Sevier and the great-grandson of Governor John Sevier. 
My grandfather, Major James Sevier, was the second son and 
second child of Governor John Sevier by his first wife, Sarah Haw- 
kins Sevier, and was born in Augusta County, Virginia, October 
25, 1764. He was not sixteen years old when he accompanied 
Governor Sevier to the Battle of King’s Mountain, and it was of 
him that his step-mother, Catherine Sherrell Sevier, made the re- 
mark that has come down in history, to the Governor, “Mr. Se- 
vier, here is another of your sons who wants to go with you,’ and 
the Governor looked up a horse for the boy to ride. There was” 
another boy, Joseph by name, eighteen years old, who was in the 
battle of King’s Mountain. Seven Seviers took part in the battle. 

“My grandfather married March 25, 1789, Nancy Conway, 
by whom he had eleven children, of whom my father, Elbridge 
Gerry Sevier, was the second son and the eighth child. My fa- 
ther marrizd November 13, 1827, Mary Carolin? Brown, and 
they had twelve children, of whom I was the youngest. 

‘““My mother was born in 1810 and was well acquainted with 
General Jackson in her girlhood. Her father, Thomas Brown, 
lived at Brown’s Ferry, just above the present bridge east of 
Kingston, Roane County, Tennessee, on Clinch river. At his 
house Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk were accustomed to 


JACKSON, IN 1845. 


From a daguerreotype by Adams, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 61 


stop on their way to and fro between Nashville and Washington. 
This was the western route from all parts of Tennessee to Wash- 
ington. Starting at Nashville the route came almost due east 
and largely along the line of the present Tennessee Central Rail- 
road through Roane County, thence on up the valley of East Ten- 
nessee through the valley of Southwest Virginia, thence on through 
Central Virginia to Washington. 

“The other route from Tennessee was northward through 
Kentucky to the Ohio River and thence by either land or water 
to Pittsburgh, and thence to Washington. 

“After my mother’s marriage she lived at Post Oak, six miles 
west of Kingston on the same road as her former home, and Gen- 
eral Jackson and Mr. Polk were accustomed to stop at her house 
here also. My mother attended school at Nashville, and I have 
often heard her tell with great glee how, at a dance when she was 
only about sixteen years old, General Jackson chose her to lead 
the Grand March and later she danced the Minuet with him. She 
had a lock of his hair which she always wore in her breast-pin 
until the Civil War, when a soldier stole it from her. My mother 
died in the year 1894. She was always very proud of the fact 
that, as just a young girl, she had danced with the Hero of New 
Orleans, who was also for eight years President of the United 
States, and this reminiscence of hers has come down to our day 
and is cherished by her descendants. 

“When General Ferguson was killed in the battle of King’s 
Mountain, he had a telescope, about two feet long, and a silver 
whistle to cheer his men on with. They fell into the hands of 
Colonel John Sevier, who gave the whistle to his son, Joseph, and 
his descendants, who live somewhere in Louisiana, now have it, 
as I understand. ‘The telescope he gave his son James, who when 
he died, gave it to my brother, Judge James Sevier, now deceased, 
but who lived at Kingston, Roane County, Tennessee, about six 
miles from Harriman. The maker’s name and date, London, 
1760, was stamped on the telescope. 

“My father, Elbridge Gerry Sevier, died when I was only 
twelve years old, but his youngest sister, Mary Sevier Stewart, 
who died at Knoxville, Tennessee, at a very old age, told me that 
her father, James Sevier, told her that they tried to bring Robert 
Sevier, who was wounded at the battle of King’s Mountain, home 
before he died, but that he died on top of the Great Smoky Moun- 
tains, and his grave could never be found afterwards. 

“When Robert Sevier was shot, James heard that his father 
was killed, and he would not stop firing when the British surren- 
dered, until Colonel Sevier came to where he was, when he threw 
down his gun, ran and leaped upon him and hugged him for joy 
that he was not killed. 

“Hoping that this will be of some interest to you, I remain, 

‘Yours very truly, 
“Charles B. Sevier.”’ 


62 AND REW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


JACKSON’S RESIGNATION FROM THE UNITED 
STATES SENATE 7 


Taken from the Knoxville Register, October 28, 1825. 

“To the Honorable, the Speakers of the Senate and the House 
of Representatives of the State of Tennessee. 

“Two years ago by the unsolicited suffrage of the Legislature, 
I was preferred to the situation at present occupied by me, of Sen- 
ator in Congress. Pursuing the principle by which I have ever 
been governed, neither to seek after nor decline office, the appoint- 
ment conferred was accepted. Aware of the practice which had 
long prevailed of selecting from each extreme of the State a person 
for the high and respectable situation of Senator, I felt regret at 
being brought forward to disturb a system which had so long ob- 
tained, yet, inasmuch as the Legislature, without any knowledge 
or understanding on my part, had called me to the situation, it 
was impossible for me to withhold my assent; and accordingly 
the appointment was, though reluctantly, accepted; not, however, 
without its being professed by my friends that a longer term of 
service than one Congress would neither be required or expected. 
That service has been performed. I was still pondering and in 
doubt whether exceptions to my resignation might not be taken, 
and if it might not be proper for me to execute the full term which 
you had assigned, when my mind was brought to conclusion by 
some late proceedings of your own, and a determination formed 
to surrender immediately back to your hands the responsible 
trust you had heretofore confided. 

“One inducement to my determination was that traveling to 
the city of Washington twice a year imposes no inconsiderable 
fatigue, and although this is a minor consideration and one which 
would have been met with cheerfulness if business involving the 
interest of our happy country had required the exertion; yet I 
was aware of nothing of great national importance which was 
likely to come before Congress, excepting a subject that you have 
lately had before your body, the amending the constitution of the 
United States in relation to the choice of a Chief Magistrate. 
Upon this matter I greatly doubted whether it might not be my 
duty again to appear in the Senate and extend my feeble aid to- 
wards producing an alteration in which great interest with the 
people of the United States exists; and on which the security of 
our republican system may depend. But being advised of a 
resolution of your body presenting again my name to the American 
people for the Chief Magistrate of this Union, I could no longer 
hesitate on the course I should pursue; doubt yielded to certainty 
and I determined forthwith to ask your indulgence to be excused 
from my further service in the councils of the country. 

“Situated as I am, my name presented to the freemen of the 
United States for the first office known to our constitution, I 
could not, with anything of approbation on my part, consent 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 63 


either to urge or to encourage a change which might wear the ap- 
pearance of being induced from selfish considerations, from a de- 
sire to advance my own views. I feel a thorough and safe con- 
viction that imputation would be ill founded and that nothing 
could prompt me to an active course on any subject which my 
judgment did not approve; yet as from late events it might be 
inferred that the prospects of your recommendation could be ren- 
dered probable only by the people having the choice given to them 
direct, abundant room would be afforded to ascribe any exertion 
I might make to causes appertaining exclusively to myself. Im- 
putations thus made would, I assure you, be extremely irksome to 
any person of virtuous and independent feeling; they would cer- 
tainly prove so to me and hence the determination to retire from 
a situation where strong suspicions might at least attach and with 
great seeming propriety. I hasten therefore to tender this my 
resignation to the hands of those who conferred on me the appoint- 
ment that in the exercise of their constitutional rights they may 
confide it to some one meriting their confidence and approbation. 

“Being about to retire once more to private life, it may be the 
last time probably that I shall have of addressing you. Permit 
me to suggest to you then some remarks upon the proposed amend- 
ment of the constitution of the United States. Our political fab- 
tic being regulated by checks and balances, where experience as- 
sures us that those which have been resorted to are inefficient; or, 
that however well their boundries have been defined by the parch- 
ment of the constitution, some new barrier to the encroachments 
of government is necessary, a correctible should be applied and it 
is the duty of the people in justice to themselves to see that one 
is provided. There is no truth more sacred in politics, and none 
more conclusively stamped upon all the state constitutions, as 
well as the federal constitution, than that which requires the 
three great departments of power, the Legislative, the Judicial 
and Executive, to be kept separate and apart. But simple and 
manifest as this truth is, the difficulty of arming it in practice with 
constitutional restraints still remains, and forms a question whether 
in its amendment the wisdom and virtue of the present generation 
may not be usefully employed. Gratitude to the founders of 
our happy government certainly cannot be lessened by honest 
efforts on Our part to improve or rather to fortify the blessings 
which have been transmitted to us, with such additional guards 
as experience has proved to be necessary. Upon this principle 
I venture freely to accord with you in the contemplated change 
proposed to the constitution; and indeed would go farther. With 
a view to sustain more effectually in practice the axiom which 
divides the three great classes of power into independent consti- 
tutional checks, I would impose a provision rendering any mem- 
ber of Congress ineligible to office under the general government 
for and during the term for which he was elected and for two 
years thereafter; except in cases of judicial office; and these I 


64 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


would except for the reason that vacancies in this department 
are not of frequent occurence, and because no barrier should be 
interposed in selecting to the bench men of the first talents and 
integrity. ‘Their trusts and duties being of the most responsible 
kind, the widest possible range should be permitted that proper 
and safe selections may be made. ‘The politician may err, yet 
his error may presently be retrieved, and no considerable injury 
result, but with judges, particularly in the last resort, error is fa- 
tal because without a remedy. 

“The effect of such a constutional provision is obvious. By 
it Congress in a considerable degree will be freed from that con- 
nection with the Executive department which’ at present gives 
strong ground of apprehension and jealousy on the part of the © 
people. Members, instead of being liable to be withdrawn from 
legislating upon the great interests of the nation, throuzh 
prospects of executive patronage, would be more liberally confided 
in by their constituents; while their vigilance would be less inter- 
rupted ‘by party feeling and party excitement. Intrigue and 
management would be excluded. Nor would their deliberations 
or the investigation of subjects consume so much time. The 
morals of the country would be improved, the virtues uniting 
with the labors of the Representatives and with the official ministers 
of the law, would tend to perpetuate the honor and glory of the 
government. 

“But if this change in the Constitution should be attained and 
important appointments continue to devolve upon the Repre- 
senatives in Congress, it requires no depth of thought to be con- 
vinced that corruption will become the order of the day, and that 
under the garb of conscientious sacrifices to establish precedents 
for the public good, evil may arise of serious importance to the 
freedom and prosperity of the Republic. It is through this 
channel that the people may expect to be attacked in their con- 
stitutional sovereignty and where tyranny may well be apprehend- 
ed to spring up in some favorable emergency. Against such 
inroads every guard ought to be interposed, and none better occurs 
than that of closing the suspected avenue with some mecessary 
constitutional restriction. We know human nature to be prone 
to evil; we are early taught to pray that we may not be led into 
tempation, and hence the opinion that by constitutional provisions 
all avenues to temptation on the part of our political servants 
should be closed. 

“My name having been before the nation for the office of chief 
magistrate during the time I served as your Senator, placed me ina 
situation truly delicate. But delicate as it was, my friends donot, 
and my enemies can not, charge me with descending from the 
independent ground then occupied, or with degrading the trust 
reposed in me by intriguing for the Presidential chair. As your 
honorable body, have, by a resolution, thought proper again to pre- 
sent my name to the American people, I must entreat to be excused 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 65 


from any further service in the Senate, and to suggest in conclusion 
that it is due to myself to practice upon the maxims recommended 
to others, and hence I feel constrained to retire from a situation 
where temptation may exist and suspicion arise of the exercise of 
an influence tending to my own aggrandizement. 
“Accept, I pray you for yourselves and tender to the honorable 
bodies over which you respectively preside, my sincere regard. 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Hermitage, Davidson County 
me@ctober 12.1825; 


Taken from The Knoxville Register, Nov. 4, 1825: 
“Murfreesboro, October 20th, 1825. 

“On Friday last, the two Houses assembled in the Hall of the 
House of Representatives to receive Gen. Jackson, agreeably to 
previous arrangement. At 11 o’clock, Gen. Jackson and Governor 
Carroll, accompanied by several invited friends, amongst whom 
were D. Graham, Esq., Secretary of State, Major Generals, Hous- 
ton and Arnold of the second and third divisions, preceded and 
followed by the joint committee appointed to wait on Gen. Jackson 
and the Governor, entered the bar of the House and after being 
seated, the Speaker of the Senate rose and addressed Gen. Jackson, 
thus: 

“General Andrew Jackson: The representatives of the people . 
of the state of Tennessee, who now surround you, for themselves 
and in behalf of their constituents, greet your appearance in this 
Hall with sentiments of the most profound regard. 

“The homage we thus offer to your virtues and your merit 
emanates from the most lively effusions of that gratitude which 
We, in common with every part of this Republic, acknowledge 
for the eminent services you have achieved, the history of which 
compasses many of the brightest pages in the annals of this nation. 
In the will of Providence, it fell to your lot to unsheath your sword 
on our Southern borders at a moment when gloom and dispair had 
fastened on our prospects, and a conquering army of chosen 
veterans were about to pollute our soil by their hostile tread; 
when the misgivings of others foretold the futility of human op- 
position, then sir, your bold resolutions commenced, and your 
plans were laid. If credulity should demand witnesses to prove 
the splendor and the glory of the triumphs of your army, at your 
side sir, stands the brave, the invincible Carroll, and other dis- 
tinguished companions in arms, and in this assembly of the Rep- 
resentatives of the people, other living Sponsors who having par- 
ticipated in those scenes are ready to say, the half has not been 
told. To you, sir, to them, and the brave soldiers of your banner, 
wherever they may be, we now tender the renewal of our eternal: 
obligations. 

“In the crowd that presses around and amongst those who 
now address you, behold sir, a mixed multitude of your intimate 


5 


66 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY ‘TENNESSEE HISTORY 


friends and personal acquaintances, some of whom have shared 
with you in many of the trying and painful vicissitudes of your 
eventful life; others who have heard the story of your renown from 
afar, and not a few who have associated with you for near half a 
century, these all unite with one accord and hail in your person 
the able and virtuous defender of their liberties and their homes 
and the scourge of their enemies. 


“But, sir, the occasion that now brings us together presents the 
first fit opportunity, and gladly we embrace it, of declaring to you 
our unqualified approbation of your conduct, in the late Pres- 
idential election. It is not for us now to impugn the motives of 
those who in the congress of the United States were instrumental 
in promoting the elevation of the distinguished individual who has 
been constitutionally called into office. That the great body of 
the people had, however, designated you as the object of their 
preference none can doubt. ‘That in the elevation of another, 
no matter how exhalted his character and his pretensions, the 
express wishes of this nation were unheeded, none will deny. Your 
personal conduct through all the various scenes that accompanied 
the important canvass and its issue was marked by that prompt 
and unyielding honesty which your fame and the exalted nature of 
the office demanded. The world then knew you only by the 
brilliancy of your arms, and the native energy of your actions 
They are now convinced that the character of the Military Chief- 
tain and the able civilian may unite in the same individual, and, 
that, in the future elevation of him, whom we now address, the 
freedom and rights of this nation have nothing to dread. Sir, 
the Legislature of Tennessee have devolved on me the pleasing and 
acceptable duty of informing you that they have again submitted 
your name to the citizens of the United States at their next election 
for Chief Magistrate. In so doing, they most solemnly declare 
they have not been actuated by local or sectional feelings, nor are 
they willing any should believe they feel a spirit of hostility to the 
present administration. It is enough to say, that on you the 
wishes of the largest portion of the Republic had centered, and 
that so far from abating, the same feeling still pervades and in- 
creases. In the spirit, then, of those political truths that have 
guided your public and private life and which have always included 
a willing submission to the call of your country, no matter how 
arduous the task, we now cherish the pleasing hope that although 
to you, the sacrifice will be great, yet the service will be offered, 
and our wishes recorded before the nation, by your acquiescence. 

“May Providence long preserve your invaluable life, and when 
the measure of your days shall have been filled, may your last 
moments be as serene as your existance has been useful. 

“Mr. Brady, Speaker of the House of Represenatives, then rose 
and addressed the General: 

““General:—The House of Represenatives has assigned to me 
the duty of bidding you welcome to their Hall—the task is pleasing. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsTory 67 


That Tennessee should delight to do honor to you, sir, whose best 
years have been spent in her service, is so just a tribute of grat- 
itude that all will unite in bearing testimony to its propriety. 

“But, sir, notwithstanding your whole life has been marked 
with great events, I am at a loss to know how to speak of your 
mighty deeds. Shall I say that in the war of the revolution you 
fought and bled with our fathers in that glorious struggle for 
independence? Shall I say that you were one of the pioneers of 
Tennessee who expelled the savage and caused the wilderness to 
smile and bud and blossom as the rose. Shall I tell that you 
led your countrymen to victory at Talledega, Emucfaw, Enoto- 
chopco and ‘Tahopeka, or shall I say that with a small body of 
undisciplined militia you vanquished a vastly superior force of 
veteran soldiers on the ever memorable plains of New Orleans? 
To those achievements which have filled the measure of your fame 
and conferred so much glory on our country, it is unnecessary to 
recur; they are known in the cabin of the humblest individual in 
the community and therefore need not the aid of my feeble eulo- 
gium. We remember them with pleasure, proudly, indulging a 
hope that in after times when generations shall have passed away, 
some daring citizen, nerved with patriot firmness, may emulate the 
achievements which you will have left on history’s page and 
afford a like protection and deliverance to his country. 

“It is not, sir, your military career alone which has induced the 
affectionate regard of your fellow citizens toward you. Not mere- 
ly in the tented field, pressed by difficulties and surrounded by 
dangers have they seen you, but in private life where the unbend- 
ing nature of the soldier yields to the repose of domestic quiet, 
they have beheld you engaged in the pursuit of civil life, in the 
councils of your country, aiding in the permanent establishment of 
liberty and liberal institutions. You were an efficient and able 
member of the convention which formed the constitution under 
which as a legislative body we areconvened to act, a constitution 
which, based upon expanded thought, extends to every freeman the 
right of being represented in this Hall. To whatever situation the 
voice of your country has called, integrity and talent unceasingly 
bore you on the confidence of the public. Nor to your fellow citi- 
zens alone has your private life been less acceptable and pleasing 
than yourmilitary and public career. Such a man we are proud 
to honor and to welcome amongst us, not for any purpose of cer 
emony or adulation, but for the reason that our hearts dictate and 
_ approve it, and because we but express the sentiment of those 
who have honored us with their suffrage and their confidence. 

“We had indulged the hope sir, that ere this, you should have 
been at the head of affairs of this our happy and free country. 
Our feelings may partially have estranged our judgment, but we 
were led to this belief because we thought the people of this Union, 
whose right it is to govern, had indicated most clearly their pref- 
erence towards you, and we are too unskilled in the political world 


68 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to suppose that the represenative on any legitimate ground could 
stand in fearless opposition to those whose confidences he shared, 
and whose agent he was to execute their wishes and their will. 
In your success buoyant hope had told us that we might look for 
equal vigilance and care to every section of our country and to a 
restoration of those almost obsolete republican feelings and habits 
which once so happily characterized our nation. Though dis- 
appointed in our expectations, we are yet consoled by the happy 
reflection that throughout the contest you sustained yourself with 
your accustomed propriety and forbore, even at the close, selfish 
consideration and a hope of a self advancement could suggest. 
Such deportment and political firmness in defeat was more glorious 
than success without it. 

“Receive, sir, the ardent and sincere wishes of the body in whose 
behalf I have the honor to address you, for a continuance of your 
health and happiness. 

“The General then replied: 

“Messrs. Speakers of the two Houses: Silence rather than any 
language I can adopt might better speak to you my feelings for 
your kind and friendly expressions towards me. Words are too 
feeble to declare how sensibly affected I am at meeting you on this 
occasion, and more particularly in bearing in recollection as I ever 
shall the numerous evidences of kindness and affection which from 
time to time, have, by the Legislature of Tennessee, been extended 
towards me. Before me are my acquaintances, neighbors, 
personal friends, some of whom have known me from early life to 
the present moment, and many have gone with me through those 
various vicissitudes of peril, trial and danger inseperable from war, 
and which they met with all that firmness which mingles in the 
soul of the soldier, when he goes forth the defender of his country’s 
rights. It is to the zealous and correspondent services of those 
gallant men aided by that power which controls the destiny of 
nations, that our country was enabled to rise above the dangers 
that met her in her march and which contributed to give me so 
flattering a place in the estimation and confidence of my fellow 
citizens. A general in command may devise plans and industrious- 
ly attempt their execution, but for success his dependence is on 
those who go with him to battle. The approbation of such men is 
highly solacing, it brings to pleasurable recollection days and , 
dangers that have passed, and smooths the little march of life 
which yet hangs in advance. We must presently be gone. A 
few short years and the places we occupy shall ‘know us no more,’ 
yet the remnant of our march will be sweet and the recollections 
of our toils forgotten, if we can bear along the hope that virtue 
in our country will be regarded; for then will independence and 
happiness be maintained. 

“The Legislature of Tennessee by a generous indulgence have 
placed me under many and various obligations. In early life when 
my merits and pretensions were perhaps better appreciated than 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 69 


they deserved, responsible trusts were conferred and however 
feebly the duties assigned may have been performed, a generous 
kindness on their part prevented everything of complaint. 

“At the onset of the late war, through their patriotic liberality 
and a friendly confidence towards me, large and liberal appropria- 
tions were made by which the General Government was assisted, 
and I enabled to advance on the enemy, and preserve from desolation 
our exposed and defenseless borders. And now again, gentlemen, 
am I cheered with the declarations freely offered by you, that in 
’ my evening pilgrimages through life, your friendly feelings are re- 
iterated and your confidence not impaired. To me, ‘tis happiness 
indeed, it is evidence of your friendly sentiments freely expressed 
and by me so happily appreciated as to be borne while I live in 
grateful recollection. 

“Nor, is it less a matter of pleasing reflection that the course 
dictated by my own judgment as proper to be pursued on a late 
occasion to which you have adverted, meets approbation. It 
was impossible for me to have acted differently because it would 
have been at war with all the declarations I had made and all 
the principles upon which through life I had professed toact. To 
be sure the situation before me was a high and important one, yet it 
was hung around with fearful responsibilities, too many and too 
variant to be undertaken but through the sanction of the country 
freely given, without which no man could hope to administer its 
affairs with satisfaction to the public and credit to himself. In 
justice therefore to myself and in regard to the great and permanent 
interests of the country, it was preferred by me to leave the matter 
where by the constitution it was placed, free from any attempted 
control or interference of mine. Through life I have not, for the 
remnant of it I certainly will not, become possessed of any situation 
or place where to compromise any of the essentials recognized by 
the spirit and design of the constitution or by the principles of our 
free government, it shall constitute a condition. 

“For the very marked and respectful attentions in your leg- 
islative characters you have thought proper to extend, I beg you to 
accept my warm and heartfelt acknowledgement, and to receive 
my warmest supplications for your present and future prosperity 
and happiness.”’ 


GEN. JACKSON ON THE TARIFF 


From the Raleigh (N. C.) Star. 


“The following letter from General Jackson, was sent to Dr. L. H. 
Coleman, of Warrenton, North Carolina, in answer to some in- 
quiries contained in a letter addressed by the latter to the former. 
Similar inquiries having been made from other quarters, the 
General states in a note that the same answer had been re- 
turned them: 


70 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘‘Washington City, 
April 29th, 1824. 


“Sir: Ihave had the honor this day to receive your letter of 
the 21st instant, and with candor, shall reply to it. My name 
has been brought before the nation by which the people themselves, 
without any agency of mine; for I wish it not to be forgotten that 
I have never solicited office; nor, when called upon by the con- 
stituted authorities, have ever declined where I conceived my ser- 
vices could be beneficial to my country. But, as my name has 
been the gift of the people, it is incumbent on me when asked 
frankly to declare my opinion upon any political national ques- 
tion, pending before and about which the country feels an interest. 

“You ask my opinion on the Tariff. I answer that I am in 
favor of a judicious examination and revision of it; and so far as 
the tariff bill before us embraces the design of fostering, protect- 
ing and preserving within ourselves the means of national defense 
and Independence, particularly in a state of war, I would advocate 
and support it. The experiences of the late war ought to teach us 
a lesson, and one never to be forgotten. If our liberty and repub- 
lican form of government, procured for us by our revolutionary 
fathers, are worth the blood and treasure at which they are ob- 
tained, it surely is our duty to protect and defend them. Can 
there be an American patriot who saw the privations, dangers, and 
difficulties experienced for the want of proper means of defense 
during the last war, who would be willing again to hazard the 
safety of our country, if embroiled; or to rest it for defense on the 
precarious means of national resource to be derived from com- 
merce, in a state of war with a maritime power, who might destroy 
that commerce to prevent us obtaining the means of defense, and 
thereby subdue us? I hope there is not; and if there is, 1 am sure 
he does not deserve to enjoy the blessings of freedom. Heaven 
smiled upon and gave us liberty and independence. That same 
Providence has blessed us with the means of national defense. If 
we omit or refuse to use the gifts which he has extended to us, we 
deserve not the continuation of his blessings. He has filled our 
mountains and our plains with minerals—with lead, iron, copper, 
and given us climate and soil for the growing of hemp and wool. 
These being the grand materials of our national defense, they 
ought to have extended to them adequate and fair protection that 
our own manufacturies and laborers may be placed on a fair com- 
petition of those of Europe, and that we may have within our 
country a supply of those leading and important articles, so essental 
in war. Beyond this, I look at the Tariff with an eye to the proper 
distribution of labor and to revenue; and with a view to discharge 
our national debt. JI am one of those who do not believe that a 
national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a repub- 
lic, inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration 
a monied aristocracy, dangerous to the liberties of the country. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 71 


This Tariff, I mean a judicious one, possesses more fancy than real 
danger. I will ask what is the real situation of the agriculturist? 
Where has the American farmer a market for his surplus pro- 
duction? Except for cotton, he has neither a foreign or home mar- 
ket. Does not this clearly prove, when there is no market either 
at home or abroad, that there is too much labor employed in agri- 
culture, and that the channels for labor should be multiplied? 
Common sense points out at once the remedy. Draw from agri- 
culture this superabundant labor; employ it in mechanisms and 
manufactures thereby creating a home market for your breadstuffs, 
and distributing labor to the most profitable account; and benefits 
to the country will result. Take from agriculture, in the United 
States, six hundred thousand men, women, and children, and you 
at once give a home market for more breadstuff than all Europe 
now furnishes us. In short, Sir, we have been too long subject to 
the policy of the British merchants. It is the time we should be- 
come a little more Americanized; and, instead of feeding the pauper 
and laborers of England, feed our own, or else, in short time, by 
continuing our present policy we shall all be rendered paupers our- 
selves. 

“Tt is, therefore, my opinion that a careful and judicious Tariff 
is much wanted to pay our national debt and afford us the means of 
defense within ourselves on which the safety of our country and 
liberty depends; and last, though, not least, give a proper distri- 
bution to our labor, which must prove beneficial to the happiness, 
independence and wealth of the community_. 

“This is a short outline of my opinions generally on the subject 
of your inquiry, and believing them correct and calculated to fur- 
ther the prosperty and happiness of my country, I declare to you, 
I would not barter them for any office or situation of temporal 
character that could be given me. 

“T have presented you my opinions freely because I am without 
concealment; and should indeed despise myself if I could believe 
myself capable of desiring the confidence of any by means so 
ignoble. 

“TI am, sir, very respectfully, 
“Your most ob’t servant, 
“‘Andrew Jackson. 
“To Dr. L. H. Coleman, Warrenton, N. C.‘ 


“Friday, March 25, 1825. 
“To the Editor of the N. Y. N. Advocate. 


Sir: 

‘The following letter was received by me a few days since, 
and although a private communication, and not intended for the 
public eye, yet it contains so just an exposition of the enlightened 
views and noble conduct of its distinguished author, that I cannot 
forbear soliciting its publication in your valuable paper. 


72 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


“This letter will be read with the deepest interest by the Amer- 
ican people. It breathes the language of the purest patriotism, 
of the most perfect devotion to the rights, the interests, and the 
republican institutions of our country. It is manly, temperate, 
' but a convincing vindication of the character and public services 
of one of the greatest men and purest patriots that this, or any 
other country, had ever produced. 

THE PEOPLE, are the sovereigns of this country. They have 
established by their blood and treasure, a government, founded 
in knowledge and virtue, which has for its basis the representative 
system. How far General Jackson, in his public career has ack- 
nowledged and respected its maxims and principles, let the actions 
of his past life, and his pure and unsullied conduct during the 
recent election testify. 

“If the people are interested in whatever relates to the conduct 
of their civil rulers, they are equally concerned for the reputation 
of one of their brightest ornaments in war — one of their strongest - 
advocates in peace. One, who has never drawn his sword but to 
add laurels to his country, nor his pen but to illustrate the value 
of her happy institutions. 

““Sam’l Swartwout.”’ 


ANDREW JACKSON TO SAM‘L SWARTOUT ON A 
“MILITARY CHIEFTAIN.” 


“Washington City, 23rd Feb., 1825. 
“My Dear Sir: 

“Yesterday I received your communication adverting to the 
reasons and defense presented by Mr. Clay to Judge Brook why 
duty and reflection imposed upon him the necessity of standing in 
opposition to me because of my being, as he is pleased to style me, 
‘a Military Chieftain.’ I had seen the letter before and when it 
first appeared I did entertain the opinion that some notice of it 
might perhaps be necessary for the reason that the expression 
seemed to convey with it the appearance of personalty more than 
anything else; and could the opinion be at all entertained that it 
could meet the object which was doubtless intended, to prejudice 
me in the estimation of my countrymen, I might yet consider some 
notice of it necessary. Such a belief, however, I cannot entertain 
without insulting the generous testimonal with which I have been 
honored by ninety-nine electors of the people. : 

“T am well aware that this term ‘Military Chieftain’ has for 
some time past been a cant phrase with Mr. Clay and certain of 
his friends; but the vote with which I have been honored by the 
people is enough to satisfy me that the prejudice which was hereby 
sought to be produced has availed but little. This is sufficient for 
me. I entertain a deep and heartfelt gratitude to my country for 
the confidence which she has manifested towards me, leaving to 
prejudiced minds whatever they can make of the epithet ‘Military 
Chieftain.’ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 73 


“It is for ingenuity greater than mine to concieve what idea 
was intended by the term. It is very true that early in life, even in 
the days of my boyhood, I contributed my mite to shake off the . 
yoke of tyranny and to build up the fabric of free government. 
And when lately our country was involved in war, bearing then the 
commission of Major General of Militia in Tennessee, I made an 
appeal to the patriotism of the citizens of the west,when 3,000 went 
with me to the field to support her Eagles. If this constitutes 
me a ‘Military Chieftain,’ Iam oone. Aided by the patriotism of 
the western people and an indulgent Providence, it was my good 
fortune to protect our frontier border from the savages and suc- 
cessfully to defend an important and vulnerable point of our Union. 
Our lives were risked, privations endured, and sacrifices made, and 
if Mr. Clay pleases, martial law declared, not with any view of 
personal aggrandizement, but for the preservation of all and every 
thing that was dear and valuable, the honor, the safety and glory 
of our country! Does this constitute the character of a ‘Military 
Chieftain?’ And are all of our brave men in war who go forth to 
defend the rights of the country to be termed ‘Military Chieftains,’ 
and denounced therefor? If so, the tendency of such a doctrine 
may be to arrest the ardour of useful and brave men in future times 
of need and peril. With me it will make no difference, for my 
country at war, I would aid, assist and defend her, let the conse- 
quences to myself be what they might. 

“I have, as you very well know, been charged by some of the 
designing politicians of this country, with taking bold and high- 
handed measures, but, as they were not designed for any benefit 
to myself, I should not, under similar circumstances, refrain from 
a course equally bold. That man who in times of difficulty and 
danger shall halt at any course necessary to maintain the rights 
and privileges and independence of his country, is unsuited to 
authority. And if these opinions and sentiments shall entitle me 
to the name and character of a ‘Military Chieftain,’ I am content 
so to be considered, satisfied too that Mr. Clay, if he pleases, shall 
give that as the reason to the citizens of the west, why, in his 
opinion, I merited neither his nor their confidence. 


“Mr. Clay has never yet risked himself for his country. He has 
never sacrificed his repose nor made an effort to repel an invading 
foe; of course, ‘his conscience’ assured him it was altogether 
wrong in any other man to lead his countrymen to battle and 
victory. He who fights and fights sucessfully, must, according to 
his standard, be held up asa ‘Military Chieftain.. Even Wash- 
ington, could he appear again among us, might be so considered 
because he dared to be a virtuous and successful soldier, a correct 
man, and an honest statesman. It is only when overtaken by 
disaster and defeat, that any man is to be considered a safe pol- 
itician and a correct statesman. 

“Defeat might, to be sure, have brought with it one benefit, 
it might have enabled me to escape the notice and animadver- 


74 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSER HisToRy 


sions of Mr. Clay; but considering that by an opposite result, 
my country has been somewhat benefited, I rather prefer it, even 
with the opprobrium and censure which he seems disposed to ex- 
tend towards me. To him, thank God, I am in no way responsible. 
There is a purer tribunal to which I would in preference refer my 
selfi—to the judgment of an enlightened, patriotic, and uncor- 
rupted people. To that tribunal I would rather appeal whence 
is derived whatever of reputation either he or I may possess. By a 
reference there it will be ascertained that I did not solicit the 
office of President; it was the frank and flattering call of the free- 
men of this country, not mine, which placed my name before the 
nation. When they failed in their colleges to make a choice, no 
one beheld me seeking through art or management to entice any 
representative in Congress from a conscientious responsibility to 
his own or the wishes of his constituents. No midnight taper 
burnt by me; no secret conclaves were held, nor cabals entered into 
to persuade any one to a violation of pledges given or of instruc- 
tions received. By meno plans were concerted to impair the pure 
principles of our republican institution,nor to prostrate that fund- 
amental maxim which maintains the supremacy of the people’s 
will. On the contrary, having never in any manner either before 
the people or Congress, interfered in the slightest degree with the 
question, my conscience stands void of offense, and will go quietly 
with me, regardless of the insinuations of those who through 
management may seek an influence not sanctioned by integrity and 


merit. 


“Demagogues, I am persuaded, have in times past done more 
injury to the cause of freedom and the rights of man than ever did 
a military chieftain, and in our country, at least in times of peace, 
I have seen something of this in my march through life; and have 
seen some men too making the boldest professions who were more 
influenced by selfish views and considerations than ever they were 
by the workings of an honest conscience. 


“T became a soldier for the good of my country, difficulties 
met me at every step, but I thank God it was my good fortune to 
surmount them. 

“The war over and peace restored, I retired to my farm to 
private life where but for the call I received to the Senate of the 
Union, I should have contentedly remained. I have never sought 
office or power nor have I ever been willing to hold any post longer 
than I could be useful to my country, not myself, and I trust I 
never shall. If these things make me one, I ama ‘Military Chief- 


tain.’ 
“T am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 


“And’w Jackson.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 75 


HON. JAMES MAYNARD OF THE KNOXVILLE BAR 
TO THE AUTHOR. 


“Bedford Springs, Penna., 
“Hon. S. G. Heiskell, “August 3, 1921. 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
““My dear Sir: 

I left Knoxville to come here, looking for health, and since 
getting here, I came across a book written by Ex-Circuit Judge 
W. M. Hall, entitled “Reminiscences and Sketches.’ Bedford 
is an old town, and there is an abundance of material for such a 
book here. As one or two of these reminiscences, in a way, connect 
with Andrew Jackson, I thought they would interest you, if 
you have not seen them before, as I have not, so I send them along. 

“The first relates the story of the building of a Presbyterian 
Church in this town in 1828. It gives a list of more than 100 sub- 
scribers to the building fund. Among other things, it is remarked: 
‘when the meeting house was built, Jackson was running for Pres- 
ident, and all the men in Bedford supported him but eight, who 
were for Adams.’ 

“Democrats must be more plentiful in Pennsylvania then than 
now. 

“The other story is about a certain General Alexander Ogle, 
who is described as the man who wrote the letter to General 
Jackson with the little ‘I’s.’ Old General Ogle, who was a self 
made, strong-minded man, and who had, in his early life, repre- 
sented Somerset county in the Pennsylvania legislature, soon 
after Jackson was elected President, wrote a long letter to the 
General on public affairs, advising him as to the course he thought 
his administration ought to pursue; but before sending it off, 
pleased with his production, he carried and read it to several of his 
neighbors and friends. The old man’s education was limited. 
One of the persons to whom he showed the letter noticed that he 
spoke quite a good deal of himself, and filled his letter full of small 
dotted ‘I’s’ instead of the capital ‘I’ required by the rules of 
composition, and ventured to suggest that this was not quite the 
thing. Whatever General Ogle lacked, he was not deficient in 
ready mother-wit, and, equal to the occasion, he assumed to know 
all about the rules of letter writing and composition, and said: 
“Sir, I am writing this letter to the President of the United States. 
If I was writing this letter to a common man, I would use the 
capital ‘I’, but in writing to General Jackson, I think it is proper 
to use small ‘I’s’. If I was writing this letter to you, sir, I would, 
make an ‘I’ six times as long as my arm, sir.’ 

“T had never heard either of these stories before, and thought 
perhaps, you had not, and that they would interest you. 

“With kind regards, 
“Very truly yours, 
“James Maynard. 


76 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ANDREW JACKSON TO EDWARD LIVINGSTON 


Early in 1823, President Monroe tendered to General Jackson 
the post of Minister to Mexico, which the latier declined. On 
that occasion he wrote the following letter to his friend; Ed- 
ward Livingston: 

“Hermitage, March 24, 1823. 


‘‘My Dear Sir: On the receipt of your letter of the 25th Ult., I 
had only time by the return mail to acknowledge its receipt, and 
say to you that on the subject of the mission to Mexico I had not 
been consulted and that I had declined accepting of this mission. 

“Tt was a just deduction of my friends to conclude that I had 
been consulted before my nomination to the Senate, and, of course, 
that I would accept the appointment; and many of them conclude, 
under this impression, that I am very fickle, when they learn that 
I have declined; for this reason, I have thought it due to you that 
you should be informed truly on this subject and also my reasons 
for declining. ; 

“First I heard of the intention of the President was in a letter 
from Major Eaton, our senator, who advised me that Mr. Monroe 
had sent for and consulted him upon the subject, inquiring his 
opinion whether I would accept, to which the Major replied that 
he could form no opinion upon the subject. Mr. Monroe express- 
ing a wish that he would assure me of his friendly views in making 
this nomination. I immediately answered that I would not accept; 
and a few days after this answer to Major Eaton, I received Mr. 
Monroe’s letter advising me of my nomination and the approval 
of the Senate of the United States, to which I replied that I could 
not accept for reasons following in substance: 

‘The present unhappy revolutionary state of Mexico with an 
oppressed people struggling for their liberties against an Emperor 
whom they have branded with the epithets usurper and tyrant, 
convinces me that no minister from the United States would, at 
this period, effect any beneficial treaty for his country, and of the 
impolicy of a republican represenative at a court which might be 
construed as countenancing the empire in opposition to a re- 
public. The people of Mexico, in their honest efforts for freedom 
command my warmest sympathies; and their success is intimately 
connected with the ultimate and general triumph of those liberal 
principles for which our Revolutionary worthies fought and bled, 
and which now form the pride and boast of United America - 
With these feelings and wishes, which I believe to be general a 
in unison with my fellow-citizens, I did believe my situation + 
Mexico would be embarrassing to me, independent of the co - 
viction that I was rendering no service to my country, when, by 
appearing at that court it might strengthen the tottering crown of 
Iturbide, and enable the tyrant to rivit the chains of despotism 
upon his country. To render service to my country could alone 
constitute any motive for acting againina publiccapacity. You will 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 77 


find from my reasons stated, that in consulting my own feelings 
I have not been unmindful of or influenced by considerations con- 
nected with the best interests of my country, which I trust have 
heretofore and shall always govern my conduct. Had the affairs 
of Mexico been in a different condition, had the voice of the people 
governed, my conclusions would have been different; for I believe 
it the true principles of our government, that every man’s services 
belong to the nation when they are required by the unsolicited 
voice of his country; and the appointment, being made without 
consulting me, embraced what I believe ought to be the governing 
rule of the President in making his nominations. Had I accepted 
this mission, it would have been among the first of my wishes to 
have had you with me. Should I ever be again brought by the 
unsolicited call of my country on the public or political theatre, 
I should calculate to have you near me; but on such an event I do 
not calculate. I am no intriguer. I would not act in one single 
instance that character for all the public favor that could be be- 
stowed. My country has brought my name before the American 
nation, and the people must decide. The presidential chair is a 
situation which ought not to be sought for, nor ought it to be de- 
clined when offered by the unsolicited voice of the people. To 
their choice the Constitution has left it, and happy for the per- 
manency of the constitutional government and the perpetuation 
of our Union, if designing demagogues will let the people excerise this, 
their constitutional privilege, without attempting to thwart it by 
subtile intrigue and management. 

“On the receipt of this, if leisure permit, I would thank you for 
your views of the correctness of my decision and the ground I 
have assumed and on which I have always practiced, and, I would 
add, I have grown too old in the practice ever to change. 

“Present myself and Mrs. J. respectfully to your lady and 
daughter, and to Major Davezac, and accept assurances of my 
friendship and esteem. 

“Andrew Jackson. 

“Edward Livingston, Esq.”’ 


78 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTORY 


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and Andrew Jackson in October, November 
and December, 1816. 
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THE FAMOUS JACKSON—-MONROE CORRESPONDENCE 


The Presidential election of 1824 witnessed five American 
citizens, respectively, asking the American electorate to prefer 
them for a residence of four years in the White House. They 
were, William H. Crawford, of Georgia, John Quincy Adams, of 
Massachusetts, John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, Henry Clay, 
of Kentucky, and Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. 

There was a general conviction over the Country that the 
battle of New Orleans had predestined Jackson to be President 
sooner or later. All of his friends took this view and began, soon 
after the battle, each in his own way, to mould public opinion to 
the desired end. 

Jackson himself was politician enough to promulgate a great 
slogan and to live up to it; namely, never to seek a public office, 
and never to decline one. This slogan was a masterpiece of its 
kind. It comprehended in its meaning complete political un- 
selfishness, idealism in fact, ‘never to seek public office,’ and, 
on the other hand, it demonstrated patriotism wide as the world 
and overflowing with undying love for the people, ‘never to decline 
one,’ that is, never to decline to serve the people. But his friends 
did not know the meaning of idealism, and did not wish to know. 
When they wanted something in politics, either for themselves or 
for General Jackson, they went after it with all the adroitness, 
force, and invincibility that finally landed Jackson in the White 
House, and themselves into any office they wanted at the Pres- 
ident’s disposal; or, if no office was wanted, then into the rank 
of those who are powers behind the throne, a status sought by all 
politicians. 

Historical writers seem to be in accord on the proposition, that 
Major William B. Lewis was the most valuable political asset 
Jackson had among his friends. Major Lewis was always looking 


ANDREW JACKSON, 
By Jacob Eichholtz, 1776-1842, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 79 


ahead—far ahead. Jackson did not always agree with him, but 
had far too much good sense to fall out with him. Old Hickory’s 
intuitions were perfect in estimating and selecting the men on 
whose judgment and loyalty to himself he could implicitly rely. 
This faculty was as highly developed in him as the same faculty 
in Napoleon Bonepart. 

Nature’s contributions to men are sometimes more lavish and 
prodigal in natural efficiency than can be learned in all the books 
or taught in all the schools. Jackson’s career seems absolutely 
marvelous in selecting the right man to carry out the plans and 
movements of the hour. 

What is known as “The Monroe Correspondence’ produced 
below, proves the foresight of Major Lewis in attaching the old 
supporters of the dismantled Federal party to the cause of Jackson 
in his race for the Presidency, into which this correspondence and 
a thousand other devices of Jackson’s friends were putting him. 
This correspondence attracted prompt and favorable attention, 
and had a great deal to do with making Jackson President. The 
letters in Jackson’s name are the product of Major Lewis, who 
said that the principal one was sent in his own hand writing to 
Monroe. 

Major John H. Eaton, on May 10, 1824, at what was thought 
to be the psychological moment in the Presidential Election of 
1824, gave the letters to the public, accompanied by a communica- 
tion to Messrs Gales & Seaton, publishers of the National In- 
telligencer, of Washington, D. C. The letter of Major Eaton is 
set out below. 

Writing these letters in 1816 and having them made public 
eight years later, in 1824, and ready in the mean-time to be made 
public should the proper occasion came about, is a familiar illus- 
tration of the habit of Major Lewis and other far-sighted politicians 
of cultivating public opinion from day to day and month to month, 
to the end that the benefits of the cultivation shall be garnered 
when the clock should strike the proper hour in the future. 


EATON TO GALES AND SEATON. 


“Washington City, May 10, 1824. 
“Messrs. Gales & Seaton: I send you for publication the letters 
which heretofore passed between Mr. Monroe and Gen. Jackson, 
on the subject of forming his Executive Cabinet in 1817. Mr. 


80 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRy 


Monroe’s are authentic copies, procured from Nashville, Tennessee. 
Those of General Jackson were placed in may possession, by the 
President, with authority to use them as I might think proper, in 
any way not objected to by the writer. Both those gentlemen have 
expressed a willingness that the entire correspondence should be 
laid before the public; accordingly, and to gratify a desire which 
seems generally to prevail, they are sent to you for publication. 
It is a matter of regret that private confidential letters, breathing 
a freedom and carelessness of expression, based on a mutually 
subsisting friendship, and never intended for the press, should, 
under any circumstances, be drawn forth and exhibited to public 
view. The necessity however, which imposes their publication, 
and of withdrawing the privacy under which they were written, 
will be ascribed to the proper cause, and readily understood by 
those who have witnessed what has recently been said, and written 
and printed, respecting them. 
‘Respectfully, 
“John H. Eaton. 


GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 


“Headquarters, Division of the South, 
“Nashville, 23d October, 1816. 


“Dear Sir: I returned from the Nation on the 12th instant, and 
seize the first moment from duty to write to you. 

“T have the pleasure to inform you that we have obtained, by 
cession from the Cherokees and Chickasaws, all their claim south 
of Tennessee that interfered with the Creek cession. 

“We have expierenced much difficulty with the Chickasaws 
from what they call their guarantee or charter, given by Presi- 
dent Washington in the year 1794, and recognized by the treaty 
with that nation in 1801, which not only guaranteed the terri- 
tory but bound the United States to prevent intrusions within 
the limits defined, of every kind whatever. In the treaty with 
the Cherokees, lately entered into at the city of Washington, the 
greater part of the land guaranteed by the treaty of 1801 to the 
Chicasaws was included. The fact is that both President Wash- 
ington and the present Secretary of War (Crawford) must have 
been imposed on by false representations, as neither the Cherokees 
nor the Chickasaws had any right to the territory south of the 
Tennessee, and included within the Creek cession, as the testimony 
recorded on your journal and forwarded with the treaty will show; 
it being within the possession of the Creeks, until conquered by us 
in the Fall of 1813. I feel happy that all these conflicting claims are 
accommodated by the late treaties, and at a moderate premium, 
payable in ten years; and that extensive fertile country west of the 
county of Madison and north of the Tennessee, which at once 
opens a free intercourse to and defense for the lower country, is 
acquired. . 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 81 


“In a political point of view its benefits are incalculable. We 
will now have good roads kept up and supplied by the industry 
of our own citizens, and our frontier defended by a strong popu- 
lation. The sooner, therefore, that this country can be brought 
into market the better. 

“By dividing this country into two districts, by a line drawn due 
east from the mouth of the Black Warrior to the Coosa river, and 
appointing an enterprising individual to superintend the northern 
district as surveyor, he can have all the lands north of the line ready 
for sale by the Ist of June next. The vast capital now held for the 
purchase of this land, if offered for sale before the holders turn it 
to other objects, will insure the treasury an immense sum of money, 
and give to the government a permanent population, capable of 
defending that frontier, which ought to induce the government to 
prepare it for market as early as possible. 


“Having learned from General David Merriweather that Mr. 
Crawford is about to retire from the department of war, as a 
friend to you and the government, to bring to your notice, as a fit 
character to fill that office, Colonel William H. Drayton, late of 
the army of the United States. 

“Tam not personally acquainted with Colonel D., but, believing 
it of the utmost importance that the office of Secretary of War 
should be well filled, I have for some time, through every source 
that has presented itself, been making inquiry on that subject. 
From information that I can rely on, the result is, that he is a 
man of nice principles of honor and honesty, of military expierence 
and pride, possessing handsome talents as a lawyer and statesman. 

“T am told before the war he was ranked with the Federalists, 
but the moment his country was threatened he abandoned private 
ease and a lucrative practice for the tented field. Suchactsas these 
speak louder than words. “The tree is best known by its fruits,’ 
and such a man as this, it matters not what he is called, will always 
act like a true American. Whether he would accept the appoint- 
ment I can not say but if he would, his talents, experience and 
energy would prove highly useful to his country. It is all im- 
portant in peace and in war, as you well know, to have this office 
well filled; at present when there exists such strife in the army as 
appears in the north, it is important to select a character of such 
firmness and energy as can not be swayed from strict rule and 
justice. From every information I have received, Colonal Drayton 
fills this character, and is better qualified to execute the duties 
of the department of War than any other character, I havea know- 
ledge of, either personally or from information: 

“TI write youconfidentially. Itissaidhere ... . isspoken of to 
succeed Mr. Crawford. Rest assured this will not do. When I 
say this I wish you to understand me, that he does not possess 
sufficient capacity, stability, or energy—the three necessary qual- 
ifications for a war officer. These hints proceed from the purest 
motives, that you may be supported in your administration by the 


6 


82 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


best talents and virtue of our country; that you may be hailed in 
your retirement from the executive chair with that unanimous 
approbation that has brought you to it. 

“Present Mrs. J. and myself respectfully to your lady and family 
in which is included Mrs Hay, and accept for yourself my warmest 
wishes for your happiness. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Hon. James Monroe, 
“Secretary of State.” 


GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 


‘Nashville, November 12, 1816. 
it: 

‘Permit me to introduce to your notice Lieutenant Gadsden, 
who will hand you this letter, and who is also bearer of the treaties 
lately concluded with the Creeks, Chickasaws and Cherokees. 

“In my last to you I took the liberty of drawing your attention 
to the benefits that would result, both to the Treasury of the 
United States and the defense of the lower Mississippi, and its 
dependencies, by bringing into market those tracts of country 
lately acquired by the treaties above named. I am so deeply 
impressed with the importance of this subject, that I cannot forego 
the present opportunity of again bringing it to your view. I have 
{his moment wrote to the comptroller on this highly interesting and 
important business. If the plan proposed is adopted, the land 
can be brought into market within a very short time, which will 
immediately give to that section of country a strong and permanent 
settlement of American citizens, competent to its defense. Should 
the Government divide the surveyors district, as proposed, and 
appoint General Coffee surveyor of the northern, his energy and 
industry will bring it into market in all June next. Should this 
district be divided as contemplated, and General Coffee appointed 
as surveyor, it will leave open the appointment of receiver of public 
moneys, heretofore promised to the General, which vacancy I 
warmly recommend to be filled by Lieutenant Gadsden, who, 
owing to the late, indeed I might say present, delicate state of his 
health, is desirous of resigning his appointment in the army. In 
this, as in all my recommendations, I have the public good in view. 

“From the acquirements of Lieutenant Gadsden the army 
will sustain a great loss by the withdrawal of his services from it; 
but by retiring at present, and avoiding the insalubrious climate 
where his duty as an officer calls him, his health may be restored 
and his life preserved for the benefit of his country at some future 
period. There are few young men in the army or elsewhere pos- 
sessing his merit. His education is of the best kind, and his mind 
is richly stored with the best kind of knowledge; he should there- 
fore be fostered as capable, at some future day, of becoming one of 
his country’s most useful and valuable citizens. Lieutenant 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 83 


Gadsden’s situation requires some office, the profits of which will 
yield him a competency while preparing himself for some pro- 
fessional pursuit; this office will afford it. These are the reasons 
that induce me so warmly to recommend him. I hope, should the 
events alluded to occur, he will receive the appointment. 

“Being deeply impressed with the importance of another 
subject which relates to yourself, as well as to the government, I 
hope I may be permitted once more to obtrude my opinions. In 
filling the vacancy occasioned by the transfer of Mr. Crawford 
from the war office to the Treasury; it is of the highest moment 
that some proper and fit person should be selected. 

“Your happiness and the nation’s welfare materially depend 
upon the selections which are to be made to fill the heads of de- 
partments. I need not tell you that feuds exist, to an injurious de- 
degree, in the northernarmy. To fill the department of war witha 
character who has taken a part in those feuds, or whose feelings 
have been enlisted on the side of party, will be adding fuel to a 
flame which, for the good of the service, already burns too fiercely. 
This and other considerations induce me to enter on the inquiry 
for a character best qualified to fillthat department. It has result- 
ed in the selection of Colonel William Drayton. Since my last to 
you, in which this subject was then named, General Ripley has 
arrived here, who heartly concurs with me in the opinion that 
Colonal Drayton is the best selection that can be made. 

“Pardon me, my dear sir; for the following remarks concerning 
the next presidential term; they are made with the sincerity and 
freedom of a friend. I cannot doubt they will be received with 

. feelings similar to those which have impelled me to make them. 
Everything depends on the selection of your ministry. 

In every selection party and party feeling should be avoided. 
Now is the time to exterminate the monster called party spirit. 
In selecting characters most conspicuous for their probity, virtue, 
capacity and firmness, without any regard to party, you will go 
far to, if not entirely, eradicate those feelings which, on former 
occasions, threw so many obstacles in the way of government, and 
perhaps have the pleasure and honor of uniting a people heretofore 
politically divided. ‘The chief magistrate of a chief and powerful 
nation should never indulge in party feelings. His conduct should 
be liberal and disinterested, always bearing in mind that he acts 
for a whole and not a part of the community. By this course you 
will exalt the national character and acquire for yourself a name 
as imperishable as monumental marble. Consult no party in 
your choice; persue the dictates of that unerring judgment which 
has so long and so often benefitted our country and rendered 
conspicuous its rules—if I know my own heart—of an undis- 
sembled patriot. 

“Accept assurances of my sincere friendship, and believe me to 
be your obedient servant. 

“Andrew Jackson. 

‘The Hon. James Monroe.” 


84 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


MR. MONROE TO MR. JACKSON. 
“Washington, Dec. 14th, 1816. 


‘Dear Sir: I have since my last to you, had the pleasure of reciev 
ing two letters from you, the last of the 12th November. The 
advantages of the late treaties with the Indians are incalculable. 
One of the benefits consists in putting an end to all dissatisfactions 
on the part of Tennessee, proceeding from the former treaty. ‘This 
has been done on very moderate terms.. Another consists in en- 
abling the government to bring to market the large body of valu- 
able land, whereby the public debt may be considerably diminished. 
A third, in extending our settlements along the Mississippi and 
towards the Mobile, whereby great strength will be added to our 
union in quarters where it is most wanted. As soon as our pop- 
ulation gains a decided preponderance in those regions, East Flor- 
ida will hardly be considered by Spain as part of her dominions, 
and no other power would accept it from her as a gift. Our atti- 
tude will daily become more imposing on all the Spanish dominions, 
and indeed on those of other powers in the neighboring islands. 
If it keeps them in good order in our relations with them, that 
alone will be an important consequence. 

“T have communicated what you suggested respecting General 
Coffee and Lieutenant Gadsden to the President, who is, I am 
satisfied, well disposed to promote their views. 

“It is very gratifying to me to receive your opinions on all sub- 
jects on which you have the goodness to communicate them, because 
T have the utmost confidence in the soundness of your judgment and 
purity of your intentions. I will give you my sentiments on the 
interesting subject in question, likewise without reserve. I agree 
with you decidly in the principle that the chief magistrate of the 
country ought not to be the head ofa party, but of a nation itself. 
I am also of the opinion that members of the Federal parties who 
left in the late war, and gallantly served their country inthe field, 
have given proofs of patriotism, and attachment to free govern- 
ment that entitled them to the highest confidence. In deciding, 
however, how a new administration ought to be formed admitting 
the result to correspond with the wishes of my friends, many con- 
siderations claim attention, as, on a proper estimate of them, 
much may depend in the success of that administration, and even 
of the Republican cause. We have heretofore been divided into 
two great parties. [hat some of the leaders of the Federal party 
entertained principles unfriendly to our system of government, 
I have been thouroughly convinced; and that they meant to work 
a change in it, by taking advantage of favorable circumstances, I 
am equally satisified. It happened that I was a member of Con- 
gress under the confederation, just before the change made by the 
adoption of the present constitution; and afterwards of the Senate 
beginning shortly after its adoption. In the former I served three 
years, and in the latter rather a longer term. In these situations 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 85 


I saw indications of the kind suggested. It was an epoch at which 
the views of men were most likely to unfold themselves, if any 
thing favorable to a higher-toned government was to be obtained, 
that was the time. The government in France tended, also, then, 
to test the opinions and principles of men, which was disclosed in 
a manner to leave no doubt on my mind of what I have suggested. 
No daring attempt was ever made, because there was no oppor- 
tunity for it. I thought that Washington was opposed to their 
schemes, and, not being able to take him with them, that they were 
forced to work in regard to him, underhanded, using his name and 
standing with the nation, as far as circumstances admitted, to 
serve their purposes. The opposition, which was carried on with great 
firmness checked the career of this party, and kept it within mode- 
rate limits. Many of the circumstances upon which my opinion is 
founded took place in debate and in society, however that such 
proof exists, founded on facts and opinions of distinguished individ- 
uals, which became public, to justify that which I have formed. 
The contest between the parties never ceased from its commence- 
ment to the present time, nor do I think that it can be said now to 
have ceased. You saw the height to which the opposition was 
carried on in the late war; the embarassment it gave to the govern- 
ment, aid it gave to the enemy. The victory at New Orleans, for 
which we owe so much to you, and to the gallant freeman who fought 
under you, and the honorable peace which took place at that time, 
have checked the opposition, if they have not overwhelmed it. I 
may add that the daring measure of the Hartford Convention, 
which unfolds views which had been long before entertained, but 
never so fully understood, contributed also, in an eminent degree 
to reduce the opposition to the present state. It is under such cir- 
cumstances that the election of a successor to Mr. Madison has 
taken place, and that a new administration is to commence its ser- 
vice. The election has been made by the Republican party (sup- 
posing that it has succeeded) and of a person known to be devoted 
to that cause. How shall he act? How organize the administra- 
tion so far as dependent on him whenin that station; how fill the 
vacancies existing at the time? 

“My Candid opinion is, that the dangerous purposes which I 
have adverted to were never adopted, if they were known especially 
in their full extent, by any large portion of the Federal party, but 
were confined to certain leaders, and they principally to the cast- 
ward. The manly and patriotic conduct of a great proportion 
of that party in the other states, I might perhaps say of all, who 
had an opportunity of displaying it, is a convincing proof of this 
fact. But still southern and eastern Fedaralists have been con- 
nected together as a party have acted together heretofore; and al- 
though their conduct has been difficult, of late especially, yet the 
distinction between Republicans and Federalists, even in the 
Southern and middle and western States, has not been fully done 
away. 


86 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“To give effect to free government, and secure it from future 
danger, ought not its decided friends, who stand firm in the day 
of trial, be principally relied on? Would not the association of any 
of their opponents in the administration itself wound their feelings 
or at least very many of them, to the injury of the Republican cause ? 
Might it not be considered by the other party as an artful com- 
promise with them, which would lessen the ignomity due to the 
councils which produced the Hartford Convention, and thereby 
have a tendency to revive that party on its former principles? My 
impression is that the administration should rest strongly on the 
Republican party, indulging to the other a spirit of moderation, 
and evincing a desire to discriminate between its members, and to 
bring the whole into the Republican fold as quietly as possible. 

‘““Many men, very distinguished for their talents, are of opinion 
that the existence of the Federal party is necessary to keep union 
and order in the Republican ranks, that is, that free ,govern- 
ment is maintained by an opposition to the ministry—I well know. 
But I think that the cause of these divisions is to be found in cer- 
tain defects in those governments rather than in human nature, 
and that we have happily avoided those defects in our system. The 
first object is to save the cause, which can be done by those who 
are devoted to it only, and, of cource, by keeping them together, 
or, in other words, not by disgusting them by too hasty an act of 
liberality to the other party, thereby breaking the genious spirit 
of the Republican party and keeping alive that of the Federal. 
The second is to prevent the re-organization and revival of the Fed- 
eral party, which, if my hypothesis is true, that the existance of 
the party is not necessary to free governments, and the other 
opinion which I have advanced is well founded, that the great 
body of the Federal party are Republican, will not be found im- 
practicable. To accomplish both objects, and thereby exterm- 
inate all party divisions in our country, and give new strength and 
stability to our government, is a great undertaking not easily 
executed.” 

“T am, nevertheless, decidedly of the opinion that it may be 
done, and should the experiment fail I shall conclude that its fail 
ure was imputable more to the want of a correct knowledge of all 
circumstances claiming attention, of a sound judgment in the 
measures adopted, than to any other cause. I agree, I think, 
perfectly with you in the grand object that moderation should be 
shown to the federal party, and even a generous policy be adopted 
towards it, the only difference between us seems to be, how far 
shall that spirit be indulged in the onset, and it is to make you 
thoroughly acquainted with my views on this highly important 
subject that I have written to you so freely on it. Of the gentleman 
of whom you have spoken, I think as you do, of which I gave him 
proof when in the department of War, by placing him in the 
board of officers for digesting and reporting a system of discip- 
line for the army, and afterwards by other tokens of confidence; 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 87 


and I add with pleasure that I should be gratified, regarding the 
feeling and claims above stated, to find an apportunity at a proper 
time here after, should the event in contemplation occur, to add 
other proofs of my good opinion and respect for him. 

“In the formation of the administration it appears to me that 
the representatives principle ought to be respected in a certain 
degree at least, and that the head of a department (there being 
four) should be taken from the four great sections of the Union, 
the east, the middle, the south and the west. This principle should 
not always be adhered to. Great emergencies and transcendent 
talents would always justify a departure from it. But it would 
produce a good effect to attend to it when practicable. Each 
part of the Union would be gratified by it, and the knowledge of 
the local details and means which would be thereby brought into 
the cabinet would be useful. I am nowise compromised in respect 
to any one, but free to act, should I have to act according to my 
own judgment in which I am thankful for the opinions of my 
friends, and practically for yours. 

“On the subject of fortifications or works of the defense of the 
coasts and frontiers, an arrangement has lately been made by the 
President, with which I wish you will be acquainted. You have 
heretofore, I presume, been apprised that General Bernard, of the 
'French corps of engineers, under the recommendation of General 
LaFayette, and many others of great distinction in France, has 
offered his services to the United States, and that the President 
has been authorized by a resolution of Congress to accept them, 
confining his rank to the grade of the chief of our corps. This 
resolution being communicated to General Bernard by the late 
Secretary of War, to whom he was known, he came over in compli- 
ance with the invitation which accompanied it. From Mr. Gallitin 
he brought letters, stating that he was the seventh in rank in the 
corps, and inferior to none in reputation and talents, if not the 
first. It required much delicacy in the arrangement to take ad- 
vantage of his knowledge and expierence in a manner acceptable 
to himself, without wounding the feelings of the Officers of our 
own corps, who had rendered such useful services, and were en- 
titled to the confidence and protection of their country. The 
arrangement adopted will, I think accomplish fully both objects. 
The President has instituted a Board of Officers, to consist of five 
members, two of high rank in the corps, General Bernard, the 
engineer at each station (Young Gadsden, for example, at New 
Orleans, and the naval Officer commanding there, whose duty it is 
made to examine the whole coast and report such works as are 
necessary for its defense to the Chief Engineer, who shall report 
the same to the secretary of war, with his ranks, to be laid before 
the President. M’Ree and Totten are spoken of for the two first, 
who, with General Bernard, will continue till the service is per- 
formed, the two latter will change with the station. ‘The General 
commanding each Division will be offically apprised of this en- 


88 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


gagement, that he may be present when he pleases, and give such 
aid as he may think fit. The attention of the Board will be direct- 
ed to the inland frontiers likewise. In this way it is thought that 
the feelings of no one can be hurt. We shall have four of our Offi- 
cers in every consultation against one foreigner, so that if the 
opinion of the latter becomes of any essential use, it must be by 
convincing his colleagues when they differ that he has reason on 
his side. I have seen General Bernard, and find him a modest 
unassuming man, who preferred our country in the present state 
of France to any in Europe in some of which he was offered em- 
ployment, and in any of which he may probably have found it. 
He understands that he is never to have command of the corps, 
but always will rank second in it. This letter, you will perceive, 
is highly confidential; a relation which I wish always to exist 
between us. Write me as you have done, without reserve, and 
the more so the more gratifying your communications will be. 
“With great respect and sincere regard, yours, 
“James Monroe.” 


GENERAL JACKSON TO MR. MONROE. 


“Nashville, January 6, 1817. 


“Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of . 
your letter of the 14th December last, which I have read with 
great interest and much satisfaction. 

“Your idea of the importance of the newly acquired territory 
from the Indians is certainly correct, and all the importance you 
attach to it will be realized. The sooner these land are brought 
into market, the sooner a permanent security will be given to what 
I deem the most important, as well as the most vulnerable, part 
of the Union. This country once settled our fortfications of defense 
in the lower country completed, all Europe will cease to look at 
it with an eye to conquest. There is no other point, America 
united, that combined Europe can expect to invade with success. 

“On the other subjects embraced by my letter, as well as this, 
I gave you my crude ideas with the candor of a friend. I am much 
gratified that you received them as I intended. It was the purest 
friendship for you individually, combined with the good of our 
country that dictated the liberty I took in writing to you. The 
importance of the Station you were about to fill to our country 
and yourself, the injury in reputation that the chief magistrate 
may sustain from the acts of a weak Minister, the various interests 
that will arise to recommend for office their favorite canidate, 
and from experience in the late war the mischief that did arise to 
our national character, by wickedness or weakness, induced me to 
give you my candid opinion on the importance of the character 
that should fill this office. I have made for this purpose the most 
extensive inquiry in my power from the most impartial sources, for 
the most fit character, combining virtue, honor and enctEya with 
talents, and all united in the individual named. 


JAMES MONROE, 1758-1831. 


Fifth President of the United States. From painting hanging in the White House. Copyright by Bureau of 
National Literature, Inc., New York. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 89 


“T was fully impressed with the propriety as well as with the 
policy you have pointed out, of taking the heads of departments 
from the four grand sections of the United States, where each 
section can afford a character of equal fitness, where that cannot 
be done, fitness and not locality, ought to govern, the Executive 
being entitled to the best talents, when combined with other 
necessary qualifications, that the Union can afford. 

“T have read with much satisfaction that part of your letter 
on the rise, progress, and policy of the Federalists. It is, in my 
opinion, a just exposition. I am free to declare had I commanded 
the military department where the Hartford convention met, 
if it had been the last act of my life, I should have punished the 
three principal leaders of the party. I am certain an independant 
court-marshal would have condemmed them, under the second 
section of the act extablishing rules and regulations for the govern- 
ment of the Army of the Unites States. These kind of men, al- 
though called Federalists, are really monarchists and traitors to 
the constituted government. But, I am of the opinion that there 
are men called Federalists that are honest, virtuous, and really 
attached to our government and, although they differ in many 
respects and opinions with the Republicans, still they will risk 
everything in its defense. It is, therefore, a favorite adage with me 
that the ‘tree is best known by its fruit’. Experience in the late 
war taught me to know that it was not those who cry patriotism 
the loudest who are the greatest friends to their country, or will 
risk most in its defense. The Senate of Rome had a Sempronius, 
America has hers. When therefore I see a character with manly 
firmness give his opinion, but when overruled by a majority pro- 
tecting the eagles of his country, meeting every privation and 
danger for a love of country and the security of its independants 
rights, I care not by what name he is called; I believe him to be a 
true American, worthy of the confidence of his country, and of 
every good man. Such a character will never do an act injurious 
to his country. Such is the character given to me of Colonel 
Drayton. Believing in the recommendation, I was, and still am, 
confident he is well qualified to fill the office with credit to himself 
and benefit to his country, and to aid you in the arduous station 
our grateful country has called you to fill. 


“Permit me to add that names, of themselves, are but bubbles, 
and sometimes used but for the most wicked purposes. I will name 
one instant. I have, once upon a time, been denounced as a 
Federalist. You will smile when I name the cause. When your 
country put up your name in opposition to Mr. M. I was one of 
those who gave you the preference, and for reasons that, in the 
event of war, which was then probable, you would steer the vessel 
of state with more energy, etc, etc. That Mr. M. was one of the 
best of men, and a great civilian, I always thought, but I always 
believe that the mind of a philosopher could not dwell on blood 
and carnage with my composure; of course that he was not well 


90  120ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 


fitted for a storm sea. I was immediately branded with the epithet 
Federalists, and you also. But I trust when compared with the 
good adage of the tree best known by its fruits, it was unjustly 
applied to either. 

‘To conclude, my dear sir. My whole letter was intended 
to put you on your guard against American Seproniuses, that you 
might exercise your own judgment in the choice of your own ministry, 
by which you would glide smoothly through your own admin- 
istration with honor to yourself and benefit to your country. 
This was my motive, this is the first wish of my heart, to see you 
when I am in retirement endeavoring to nurse a broken debil- 
itaded constitution, administrating the government with the full 
approbation of all good men pursuing an undeviating course 
alone dictated by your own independant, matured judgment. 

“Present Mrs. J. and myself respectfully to your lady, and 
accept for yourself our best wishes, and believe me to be your 
most obediant servant, 

“Andrew Jackson. 

“The Hon. James Monroe.”’ 


In the next letter it appears that Gen. Jaekson might himself 
have been appointed Secretary of War, had he so desired. 


Mr. Monroe to General Jackson. 


“Washington, March Ist, 1817. 


‘Dear Sir: I wrote you a short letter lately by General Ber- 
nard, and I intended to have written you another, but had not 
time, indeed, so constantly have I been engaged in highly im- 
portant business that I have not had a moment for my friends. 

“In the course of last Summer the President offered the De- 
partment of War to Mr. Caly, who then declined it. Since it 
was known that the suffrages of my fellow citizens had decided 
in my favor, I renewed to him the offer which he again declined. 
My mind was immediately fixed on you though I thought whether 
TI ought to wish to draw you from the command of the army to 
the south, where, in case of any emeregency, no one could supply 
your place. At this moment our friend, Mr. Campbell, called and 
informed me that you wished me not to nominate you. In this 
case, I have resolved to nominate Gov. Shelby, thoughit is un- 
certain whether he will serve. His experience and long and meri- 
torious services give hima claim over younger men in that state. 

“TI shall take a person for the Department of State from the 
eastward; and Mr. Adams’ claims, by long service in our diplo- 
matic concerns, appearing to entitle him to the preference sup- 
ported by his knowledge, abilities and integrity, his nomination 
will go to the Senate. Mr. Crawford it is expected, will remain 
in the treasury. After, all that has been said,I have thought 
that I should put the administration more on national grounds 
by taking the Secretary of State from the eastward than from this 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 91 


quarter, or the south or west. By this arrangement there can 
be no cause to suspect unfair combination for improper pur- 
poses. Each member will stand on his own merit, and the people 
will respect us all by our conduct.’ To each I will act impartially, 
and of each expect the preformance of his duty. While I am here 
I shall make the administration first for the country and its cause, 
secondly, to give effect to the government of the people, through 
me, for the term of my appointment, not for the aggrandizement 
of any one. 
“With great respect and sincere regards, yours, 
“James Monroe.”’ 


GENERAL JACKSON TO PRESIDENT MONROE. 


“Nashville, March 18th, 1817. 
“Dear Sir: 

“T had the pleasure this day of receiving your letter of the Ist, 
instant. That by General Bernard I have not received. I learned 
by this day’s mail that he has reached Knoxville, and will be on in a 
few days. 

“My friend Judge Campbell was instructed and fully authorized 
to make the communication to you that he did, and, I hope gave 
you fully my reasons for my determination and wishes on that 
subject. 

“T have no hesitation in saying that you have made the best 
selection to fill the Department of State that could be made. Mr. 
Adams, in the hour of difficulty, will be an able helpmate, and Iam 
convinced his appointment will afford general satisfaction. 

“No person Stands higher in my estimation than ...: He is 
a well tried patriot, and if he accepts will, with the virtuous zeal, 
discharge the duties of the office as far as his abilities will enable 
him. -I cannot disguise to you my opinion on this occasion, and I 
am compelled to say to you that the acquirements of this worthy 
man are not competent to the discharge of the multiplied duties 
of this department. I therefore hope he may not accept the ap- 
pointment. I am fearful if he does, he will not add much splendor to 
his present well earned standing as a public character. Should he 
accept, rest assured, as long as I remain in the army it will afford me 
great pleasure in obeying your orders through him, and rendering 
his situation and duty easy and pleasant as far as circumstances 
will place it in my power. 

“T am aware of the difficulties that surround you in the selec- 
tion of your Cabinet, but the plan you have adopted of making 
all consideration yield to the general weal, will bring you to retire- 
ment with the salutations and applause of all the purchase, 
wise and good; and, you should be properly seconded by the United 
States. You will be enabled to place the Union ina state of security 
and prosperity that cannot be shaken by the convulsions of Europe. 
To this end you can calculate with confidence on my feeble exer- 
tions, so long as my constitution may permit me to be useful. I 


92 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


have looked forward to that happy period, when, under your 
guidance, our government will be in the ‘full tide of successful 
experiment’— when I would retire from public life and endeavor 
to regain a much enfeebled constitution. Should you be properly 
seconded in your views, this period will arrive as soon as the meas- 
ures adopt for the defense of the frontier are carried into effect, 
by completeing those fortifications that have been and may be 
selected for its defense, by erecting founderies and armories, and 
organizing and classing the militia. Then we will have peace, for 
then we will be prepared for war, every man having a gun in his 
hand, all Europe combined cannot hurt us. Then all the world will 
be anxious to be at peace with us, because all will see we wish 
peace with all, but are prepared for defense against those who may 
attempt to infringe our national rights. 

“Accept assurances of my best wishes, and believe me to be 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

“Andrew Jackson. 

“Fon. James Monroe. 

“President of the United States.” 


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ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 93 


Se aaa hai aig eae coe 
Ed CHAPTER 5. 2 
% The official proceedings of the Court Martial that a 
Ea condemned Arbuthnot and Ambrister to & 
bd death, which finding was approved by 2 
a General Jackson. bd 
Ea 


THE EXECUTION OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 


Before sunrise on April 29th., 1818, on the order of Gen. Jackson 
approving the finding of a Court Martial, the execution of Ar- 
buthnot and Ambrister gave rise to tremendous consequences that 
no one foresaw at the time. The execution became a political 
issue of National importance and consequences flowed from it that 
directly and profoundly influenced the destiny of many political 
leaders. 

On January 12th., 1819, the House of Representatives 
began one of the greatest debates that ever took place in either 
branch of Congress. This debate lasted twenty-seven days and 
from Henry Clay’s assault on Jackson in that debate dated: Jack- 
son’s bitter hatred of Clay that lasted until Old Hickory passed 
to the Eternal Judgment. ‘The issue of the debate was the ques- 
tion: 

“RESOLVED, THAT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT- 
ATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES DISAPPROVES THE 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF 


ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT AND ROBERT C. AMBRIS- 
aR” 


On February 8th., 1819, the vote of the Committee of the 
whole of the House was taken and resulted in complete vindi- 
cation of Jackson. Ayes 54,noes90. Happily the members of the 
Court Martial have come down to us and we have their names, 
the charges and specifications against the two prisoners, the names 
and testimony of each witness and the defense set up by each of the 
two defendants. 

The president of the Court Martial was Major-General Edmond 
P. Gaines, one of the most distinguished and accomplished officers 
in the American Army, and the members of the court consisted of 
officers of character and standing in both the regular and volunteer 
services. ‘This court found both Arbuthnot and Ambrister guilty, 


94 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


and Jackson, as the commanding officer, confirmed the finding. 
We think that students of history generally at this day, and es- 
pecially those who closely study Jackson’s career, will read with 
attention the minutes of the proceedings of the Court Martial 
and acquaint themselves with the exact testimony on which Jack- 
son acted. 


“TRIAL OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. 
AS TRANSMITTED BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE CONGRESS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
‘“‘Minutes of the proceedings of a special court organized agree- 
ably to the following order, viz: 
“ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, 
Fort St. Mark’s, 26th April, 1818. 
Headquarters, Division of the South. 
‘““General order—The following detail will compose a special court, 
to convene at this post at the hour of 12 o’clock M. for the purpose 
of investigating the charges exhibited against A. Arbuthnot, Robert 
Christy Ambrister, and such others, who are similarly situated, as 
may be brought before it. 

“The court will record all the documents and testimony in the 


several cases, and their opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the 
prisoners, and what punishment, (if any) should be inflicted. 


DETAIL. 
Major general E. P. Gaines, president. 
Col. King, 4th Infantry, Col. Dyer, Ten. Vol. 
Col. Williams, Ten. Vol. Lt. Col. Lindsay, Cor. Ar. 


Lt. Col. Gibson, Ten. Vol. Lt. Col. Elliot, Ten. Vol. 

Maj. Muhlenburg, 4th Inf. Maj. Fanning, Cor. Ar. 

Maj. Montgomery, 7th Inf. Maj. Minton, Geo. Mili, 

Capt. Vashon, 7th Inf. Capt. Crittenden, K’y vol. 

Lt. J. M. Glassel, 7th infantry, recorder. 

An orderly will be detailed from Gen. Gaines’ brigade, ao the 
court will sit without regard to hours. 

By order of major general Jackson, 

Robert Butler, Adj. Gen. 
Fort St. Marks, 26th April, 1818. 

“The court convened pursuant to the foregoing order, when 
being duly sworn, in the presence of the prisoner, and he being asked 
if he had any objections to any member thereof, and replying in the 
negative, the following charges and specifications were read, viz: 

“Charges vs. A. Arbuthnot, now in custody, and who says he 
he is a British subject: 

Charge lst—Exciting and stirring up the Creek Indians to war 
against the United States, and her citizens, he (A. Arbuthnot) be- 
ing a subject of Great Britain, with whom the United States are at 
peace. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HiIsTORY 95 


““Specifications—That the said A. Arbuthnot, between the 
months of April and July, or sometime in June 1817, wrote a letter 
to the little Prince, exhorting and advising him not to comply with 
the treaty of fort Jackson, stating that the citizens of the United 
States were infringing on the treaty of Ghent, and, as he believed, 
without knowledge of the chief magistrate of the United States; 
and advising the Upper and Lower Creeks to unite and be friendly, 
stating that William Hambly was the cause of their disputes; also 
advising the little Prince to write to the governor of New Provi- 
dence, who would write to his royal highness the prince regent, 
through whom the United States would be called to a compliance 
with the treaty of Ghent, and advising them not to give up their 
lands, under the treaty of fort Jackson, for that the American 
citizens would be compelled to give up to them all their lands, under 
the treaty of Ghent. 

“Charge 2d—Acting as a spy, and aiding, abetting and com- 
forting the enemy, supplying them with the means of war. 

“Specification 1st—In writing a letter from the fort of St. Marks, 
dated 2d April, 1818, to his son John, at Suwany, (marked A) de- 
tailing the advance of the army under Gen. Jackson, stating their 
force, probable movements, and intentions, to be communicated 
to Bowlegs, the chief of the Suwany towns, for his government. 

“Specification 2d—In writing the letters marked B, without date 
and C, enclosures, 27th Jan., 1818, and D, called ‘a note of Indian 
talks,’ and E, without date, applying to the British government, 
through governor Cameron, for munitions of war and assistance 
for our enemies; making false representations; and also applying 
to Mr. Bagot, British Ambassador, for his interference, with a 
statement on the back of one of the letters of munitions of war for 
the enemy. 

“Charge 3d—Exciting the Indians to murder and destroy William 
Hambly and Edmund Doyle, and causing their arrest with a view 
to their condemnation to death, and the seizure of their property, 
on account of their active and zealous exertions to maintain peace 
between Spain, the United States and the Indians, they being 
citizens of the Spanish government. 

“Specifications 1st—In writing the letters marked F, dated 26th 
August, 1817;G, dated 13th May, 1817: and H, threatening them 
with death, alleging against them false and infamous charges, and 
using every means in his power to procure their arrest. All which 
writings and sayings excited, and had a tendency to excite, the 
negroes and Indians to acts of hostility against the United States. 

“By order of the court, 

“J. M. Glassel, Recorder. 

“To which charges and specifications the prisoner pleaded NOT 
GUILTY. ; 

“The prisoner having made application for counsel, it was granted 
him; when the court proceeded to the examination of the evidence. 
John Winslett, a witness on the part of the prosecution, being duly 


96 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


sworn, stated, that some time before last July the little Prince re- 
ceived a letter signed by Mr. Arbuthnot, advising the upper part of 
the nation to unite with the lower chiefs in amity; and stating the 
best mode for them to repossess themselves of their lands, would 
be to write to Him (Arbuthnot) and he would send complaints 
to the governor of Providence, whence it would be forwarded to 
his Britannic majesty, and he would have the terms of the treaty 
of Ghent attended to. He moreover stated his belief that the en- 
croachment on the Indian lands were unknown to the president of 
the United States. The witness also identified the signature of 
the prisoner in a letter to his son marked A, and referred to in the 
first specification, in the second charge, and heretofore noted, as 
the same with that sent to the little Prince. 


“The witness on being further interrogated, stated the taetssiline 
of the letter alluded to, “to be, the British Government on appli- 
cation would cause to be restored to them their lands they held in 
1811, agreeably to the terms of the treaty of Ghent. 

“Question by the prisoner—Who is this little Prince? is he 
known by any other name? 

“Ans. He is known by the name of Tustenukke Hopin, and is 
the second chief of the nation. 

“Question by the prisoner.—Where is the letter you allude to, 
or in whose possession ? 

“Ans. It was left in possession of the Little Prince when I last 
saw it. 

“Question by the prisoner.—Has the little Prince no other name 
than what you state? 

“Ans. Not that I know of. 

“Question by the prisoner.—Do you swear that the letter alluded 
to was addressed to the Little Prince? 

‘Ans. I do not. It was presented to me by the Little Prince 
to read and interpret for him, which I did. 

“Question by the prisoner.—Are you certain that the letter stated 
that the chief magistrate of the United States could have no know- 
ledge of settlements made on Indian lands or injuries committed ? 

‘Ans. The letter stated that to be the belief of the writer. “John 
Lewis Phoenix, a witness on the part of the prosecution being duly 
stated with regard to the Ist specification of the 2nd charge, that 
being at Suwany in the town about the 6th or 7th of April, he was 
awakened in the morning by Mr. Ambrister’s receiving, by the 
hands of a negro, who got it from an Indian, a letter from St. Marks 
at that time stated by Ambrister to be from the prisoner. 

“‘Question by the prisoner—Did you see that letter or hear it read? 

“Ans. I did see the paper, but did not hear it read. 

“Question by the prisoner.—Did you state that the letter was 
received by an Indian express? 

“Ans. So the black man that delivered it said. 

‘“‘A question being raised by a member of the court as to the juris- 
diction on the third charge and its specification, the doors were 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 97 


closed, and, after mature delberation, they decided that this court 
is incompetent to take cognizance of the offenses alledged in that 
charge and specification. 

‘‘Peter B. Cook, a former clerk to the prisoner, and a witness on 
the part of the prosecution, being duly sworn, stated that about 
December or January last, the prisoner had a large quanity of 
powder and lead brought to Suwany in his vessel, which he sold to 
the Indians and negroes, that, subsequent to that time, when he 
cannot recollect, Ambrister brought for the prisoner in his (the 
Prisoner’s) vessel, nine kegs of powder and a large quanity of lead, 
which was taken possession of by the negroes. ‘The witness also 
indentified to the following letters, referred to in the foregoing 
charges and specifications, marked A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H, 
_as being the prisoner’s hand writing; also the power of attorney 
No. 1, granted by the Indians to A. Arbuthnot. 

A. 


“FROM A. ARBUTHNOT TO HIS SON, ARBUTHNOT, DATED 
FORT ST. MARKS 2ND. APRIL, 1818, 9 0’CLOCK 
IN THE MORNING. 
“Dear John: 

““As I am ill able to write a long letter, it is necessary to be 
brief. Before my arrival here the commandant hadreceived an 
express from the governor of Pensacola, informing him of a large 
embarkation of troops, & C. under the immediate command of 
general Jackson; and the boat that brought the despatch reckoned 
eighteen sail of vessels off Appalachicola. By a deserter that 
was brought here by the Indians, the commandant was informed 
that 3,000 men, under the orders of General Jackson, 1000, foot 
and 1,600 horse, under general Gaines, 500 under another general, 
were at Prospect Bluff, where they are rebuilding the burnt fort; 
that 1,000 Indians, of different nations, were at Spanish Bluff, 
building another fort, under the direction of American officers; 
that so soon as these forts were built they intended to march. 
They have commenced. Yesterday morning advice was received 
that they had appeared near — and taken two of the sons of 
M’Queen, and an Indian. Late in the afternoon, three schooners 
came to anchor at the mouth of the river, and this morning the 
American flag is seen flying on the largest. 

“IT am blocked here; no Indians will come with me, and I am 
now suffering from the faticue of coming here alone. 

“The main drift of the Americans is to destroy the black pop- 
ulation of Suwany. Tell my friend Boleck, that it is throwing 
away his people, to attempt to resist such a powerful force as will 
be drawn on Sahwahnee; and as the troops advance by land, so 
will the vessels by sea. Endeavor to get all the goods over the 
river in a place of security, as also the skins of all sorts; the corn 
must be left to its fate. So soon as the Sahwahnee is destroyed, 
I expect the Americans will be-satisfied and retire: this is only my 
opinion, but I think it is conformable to the demand made by 


7 


98 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Gen. Gaines to king Hatchy some months since: in fact, do all 
you can to save all you can save, the books particularly. It 
is probable the commandant will receive some communication 
from the vessels to day, when he will know more certainly what are 
their motives in coming off the fort. I think it is only to shut up 
the passage of the Indians. ‘Twenty canoes went down yesterday, 
and were forced to return. The road between this and Mick- 
asucky is said to be stopped, Hillisajo and Himathlo Mico were 
here last night, to hear what vessels: they will remove all their 
cattle and effects across St. Marks river this morning, and perhaps 
wait near thereto for the event. 

“I have been as brief as I can to give you the substance of what 
appears facts, that cannot be doubted, to enter into details in the 
present moment is useless. If the schooner is returned, get all the 
goods on board of her, and let her start off for Mounater Creek, 
in the bottom of Cedar Key bay. You will there only have the 
skins to hide away. But no delay must take place, as the vessels 
will, no doubt, follow the land army, and perhaps, even now some 
have gone round. I pray your strictest attention, for the more 
that is saved will be, eventually, more to your interest. Let the 
bearer have as much calico as will make him two shirts, for his 
trouble: he has promised to deliver this in three, but I give him 
four days. 

I am yours, affectionately, 

“A. Arbuthnot.” 
Bi 


‘FROM A. ARBUTHNOT TO CHAS. CAMERON, GOV. BAHAMAS. 
Sit: 

‘“‘Being empowered by the chiefs of the Lower Creek nation to 
represent the state of their nation to your excellency, that you 
may be pleased to forward the same for the information of his 
majesty’s government, to whom alone they look for protection 
against the aggressions and encroachments of the Americans, I beg 
leave to submit to your excellency the enclosed representations, 
humbly praying that your excellency will be pleased to take an 
early opportunity of forwarding the same to Great Britian. 

“Tam instructed by Bowleck, chief of the Sahwahnee, to make 
the demand herein enclosed, he never having had any share of the 
presents distributed at prospect Bluff, though he rendered equally 
essential services as any of the other Chiefs to the British cause, 
while at war with America, and was at New Orleans with a part of 
his warrors. His frontiers being more exposed to the predatory 
incursions of the back Georgians, who enter his territory and drive 
off his cattle, he is obliged to have large parties out, to watch their 
motions and prevent their plundering. And, being now deficient 
of ammunition, he prays your excellency will grant his small de- 
mand humbly submitting the same. 

“T have the honor to be your excellency’s most humble servant. 

PAG WAY 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 99 


‘““THE HUMBLE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CHIEFS OF THE 
CREEK NATION TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CAMERON. 


“First, we beg leave to represent, that Edmund Doyle and Wm. 
Hambly, lately clerks, at Prospect Bluff, to Messrs. Forbes &c., 
and who still reside on the Appalachichola River, we consider as 
the principal cause of our present troubles and uneasiness. Ham- 
bly was the instrumental cause of the Fort at Prospect Bluff being 
destroyed bythe Americans, by which we lost the supplies intended 
for our future wars. Since then, both these men have kept their 
emissaries among us, tending to harass and disturb our repose, and 
that of our brethren of the middle and upper nation;they spread 
among us reports that the Cowetas, aided by the Americans, are 
descending to drive us off our land; they equally propagate false.” 

i 


“FROM A. ARBUTHNOT TO BENJ. MOODIE, ESQ., ENCLOSING LET- 
TO CHARLES BAGGOT, ESQ., BRITISH MINISTER AT WASH- 
INGTON. SAHWAHNEE, IN THE CREEK NATION, 

27TH. OF JANUARY, 1818. 
“Sir: 
_ “The enclosed, containing matter of sericus moment, and de- 
manding the immediate attention of his excellency the British 
Embassador, I trust he will, for this time forgive the trifling ex- 
pense of postage, which I have endeavored to prevent as much as 
possible by compressing much matter in one sheet of paper. Should 
you sir, be put to any trouble or expense by this trouble I give you by 
being made acquainted with the same, I will instruct Bain, Dun- 
shee and Co. to order payment of the same. I have the honor to 
be sir, your most obedient humble servant, 

“A. Arbuthnot. 


“FROM A. ARRUTHNOT TO THE HON. CHARLES RAGGOT. 
“‘Sir: 

“It is with pain lagain obtrude myself upon your excellencie’s 
notice, but the pressing solicitations of the Chiefs of the Creek 
Nation, and the deplorable situation in which they are placed by 
the wanton aggressions of the Americans, I trust, your excellency 
will take as a sufficient apology for the present intrusion. 

“In August last the head chief of the Seminole Indians re- 
ceived a letter from Gen. Gaines, of which I have taken the liberty 
of annexing your excellency the contents, as delivered me by the 
Chief’s head English interpreter, with King Hahhy’s reply thereto. 

“This letter appears to have been intended to sound the dis- 
position of the chief and ascertain the force necessary to overrun 
the nation; for ftom then until the actual attack was made on 
Fowl Town, the same general with Gen. Jackson, seemed to have 
been collecting troops and settling in various quarters. 

“If your excellency desires to have further information re- 
specting the situation of this country and its inhabitants I can 


100 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


from time to time, inform your excellency of such facts and cir- 
cumstances as are stated to me by Chiefs of known veracity, 
or which may come under my own observation; and your excel- 
lency,s order addressed to me at New Providence will either find 
me there or be forwarded me to this country. 

“With great respect I have the honor to be your excellency’s 
obedient servant, “ALA, 


“THE FOLLOWING MEMORANDUM WAS ON THE RACK OF THE 
FOREGOING LETTER 


King Hahhy 1,000, Boleck, 1,500, Oso Hatjo Choctawhachy 
500, Himashy Miso Chattchichy 600, at present with Hillisajo. 
At present under arms, 1,000 and more; and attacking those Amer- 
icans who have made inroads on their territory. 

“A quantity of gun powder, lead, muskets and flints, sufficient 
to arm 1,000 or 2,000 men; muskets 1,000, arms smaller if possible; 
10,000 flints, a proportion for rifle put up separate; 50 casks gun 
powder, a proportion for Rifle; 2,000 knives, 6 to 9 inch blade good, 
quality; 1000 ‘Tomahawks; 100 pounds vermillion; 2000 pounds 
lead, independent of ball for muskets. 

“(Signed) King Hahhy. 
‘‘(Signed) Boleck. 


“FROM GENERAL GAINES TO THE SEMINOLY CHIEF: 


‘To the Seminoly chief: 

“Your Seminoly’s are very bad people; I don’t say whom. 
You have murdered many of my people, and stolen my cattle and 
many good horses that cost me money; and many good houses, 
that cost me money, you have burnt for me; and now that you see 
my writing you will think I have spoken right. I know it is so; 
you know it is so; for now you may say, I will go upon you at ran- 
dom; but just give me the murders, and I will shew them my law 
and when that is finished and passed, if you will come about any of 
my people, you will see your friends, and if you see me you will 
see your friend, but there is something out in the Sea, a bird with 
a forked tongue; whip him back before he lands for he will be the 
ruin of you yet. Perhaps you do not know who or what I mean— 
I mean the name of English men. 

“T tell you this, that if you do not give me up the murderers, 
who have murdered my people, I say I have got good strong war- 
riors, with scalping knives and Tomahawks you harbour a great 
many of my black people among you, at Sahwahnee. If you give 
me leave to go by you against them, I shall not hurt anything 
belonging to you. ‘““General Gaines. 


“FROM KING HATCHY TO GENERAL GAINES, IN ANSWER 
TO THE FOREGOING: 


‘To General Gaines: You charge me with killing your people, 
stealing your cattle and burning your houses. It is I that have 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 101 


cause to complain of the Americans. While one American has 
been justly killed while in the act of stealing cattle more than 
four indians have been murdered while hunting by these lawless 
freebooters. I harbour no negroes. When the Englishmen 
were at war with America, some took shelter among them, and it 
is for you white people to settle these things among yourselves and 
not trouble us with what we know nothing about. I shall use 
force to stop any armed Americans from passing my Towns or my 
lands. 
DE. 


“NOTE OF INDIAN TALKS. 


“In August, Capp had a letter from Gen. Gaines, in substance 
as annexed, No. 1, and returned the answer as by No. 2. Nothing 
further was said on either side. The end of October, a party of 
Americans from a fort on Flint River, surrounded Fowl Town 
during the night and began burning it. 

“The Indians then in it fled to the swamps, and in ete flight 
had three persons killed by fire from the Americans; they rallied 
their people, and forced the Americans to retire some distance 
but not before they had two more persons killed, the Americans 
built a block-house or Fort where they had fallen back to and 
_ immediately sent to the Fort up the county for assistance, stating 

the Indians were the aggressors; and also settled with Tohemock 
for the loss his people had suffered, at the same time sending a 
talk to King Hatchy, by a head man (Aping) that he would put 
things in such a train as to prevent further encroachments and get 
those Americans to leave the fort. But no sooner was the good 
talk given and before the bearer returned home, then hundreds of 
Americans came pouring down on the Indians; roused them to a 
sense of their own danger, they flew to arms, and have been compell- 
ed to support themever since. It isnot alone from the country but 
by vessels entering Appalachicola River in Vessels with troops, and 
settlers are pouring into the Indian territory; and, if permitted 
to continue, will soon over run the whole of the Indian lands. 
From the talk sent King Hatchy by Gov. Mitchell, I am in hopes 
that those aggressions of the Americans on the Indian Territory are 
not countenanced by the American government, but originate 
with men devoid of principle, who set laws and instructions at 
defiance and stick at no oppressions to obtain their ends. Against 
such oppressions the American government must use not only al. 
their influence, but if necessary, force, or their names will be han- 
“ded down to posterity as a nation more cruel and savage to the 
unfortunate Aboriginies of this country then ever were the Span- 
iards in more dark ages, to the nations of South America. 

“The English government as the special protectors of the 
Indian nations, and on whom alone they rely for assistance, ought 
to step forward and save those unfortunate people from ruin; 
and as you, sir, are appointed to watch over their interests it is 


102 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


my duty, as an Englishman, and the only one in this part of the 
Indian Nation, to instruct you of the talks the chiefs bring me for 
your information, and I sincerely trust, sir, you will use the powers 
you are vested with for the service and protection of those un- 
fortunate people who look up to you as their savior. I have writ- 
ten to General Mitchell, who, I hear, isan excellent man; and, as 
he acts as Indian Agent I hope his influence will stop the torrent 
of innovations, and give peace and quitness to the Creek Nation. 

“T pray your excellency will pardon this intrusion, which 
nothing but the urgency of the case would have induced me to 
make. 

‘“‘T have the honor to be your excellency’s most obedient ser- 
vant. “eS 


“EXTRACT OF LETTER F 
“FROM A. ARBUTHNOT TO COL. NICHOLL,. 


Nassau, N. P. 26th. Aug. 1817. 
“Tt. Col. Edward Nicholl: 
igus 
‘Especially authorized bythe chiefs of the lower Creek Nation, 
whose names I affixed to the present, I am desired to address you 
that you may lay their complaints before his majesty’s govern- 
ment. They desire it to be made known, that they have explicitly 
followed your advice. They complain of the English government ~ 
neglecting them, after having drawn them into a war with Amer- 
ica; that you, sir, have not kept your promise, in sending people 
among them, and that, if they have not persons resident in the 
nation to watch over their interest they will soon be driven to the 
extremity of the penninsula. I am desired to return Hillisajo’s 
warmest acknowledgments for the very handsome manner you 
treated him in England, and he begs his prayer may be laid at the 
feet of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent. I left him and all 
his family well on the 20th June. Old Cappachimicco desires me 
to send his best respects, and requests that you will send over some 
people to live among them, and all the land they took from Forbs 
shall be theirs. At all events they must have an agent among 
them. The powers given me and the instructions were to me- 
morialize his Majesty’s government, as well as the Governor Gen- 
eral of the Havanna; but if you will be pleased to lay this letter 
before his Majesty’s Secretary of State, it will save the necessity 
of the first, and I fear that a memorial to the Governor General 
would be of no use. 
“Refering you to Ae answer, I am, most respectfully, your: 
obedient servant, “A. Arbuthnot. 


ENON A 
‘POWER OF ATTORNEY FROM INDIAN CHIEFS TO A. ARBUTHNOT. 


“Know all men by these presents, that we chiefs of the Creek 
nation, whose names are affixed to tHis power, having full faith and 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 103 


confidence in A. Arbuthnot, of New-Providence, who, knowing 
all of our talks, is fully acquainted with out intentions and wishes, 
do hereby, by these presents, constitute and appoint him, the said 
Alexander Arbuthnot, our attorney and agent, with full power and 
authority to act for us, and in our names, in all affairs relating to 
our nation, and also to write such letters and papers as to him 
may appear necessary and proper, for our benfit, and that of the 
Creek nation. 

“Given at Ocklocknee sound, in the Creek nation, this 17th. 
day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen. 


Cappachimaco, his X mark. 
Inlemohtlo, his X mark. 
Charles Tuckonoky, his X mark. 
Otus Mico, his X mark. 
Ochacone Tustonoky, his X mark. 
Imatchlucle, his X mark. 
Inhimatechucle, his X mark. 
Lohoe Itamatchly, his X mark. 
Howrathle, his X mark. 

10. Hillisajo, his X mark. 

11. ‘Tamuches Haho, his X mark. 

12. Oparthlomico, his X mark. 

“Certified explanation of names and towns to which the fore- 

going chiefs belong, agreeably to the numbers set opposite thereto. 


“Wm. Hambly. 


Kinhigee, chief of Mickasuky. 

Inhimarthlo, chief of Fowl Town. 

Charle Tustonoky, second chief of Ockmulgee Town 
Chief on the Conholoway, below Fort Gaines. 
Opony chief of Oakmulgee Town. 

Chief of the Atlapalgas. 

Chief of Pallatchucoley. 

Chief of the Chehaws. 

Chief of the Red Sticks. 

10. Francis (the Prophet). 

11. Peter M’Queen, chief of the Tallahasses (an old Red 


0 90 SID) HB GN 


12. A Red Stick, created chief by the lower towns. 


“Questions by the Court: Have you at any time within the 
last twelve months, heard any conversation between the prisoner 
and the chief called Bowlegs, relating to the war between the 
United State and the Seminoles? 

Ans. I heard the prisoner tell Bowlegs that he had sent 
letters to the Prince Regent, and expected soon to have an answer. 
Sometime afterwards, some of the negroes doubted his carrying 
those letters, when the prisoner stated that he had, but, the dis- 
tance being great, it would take some time to receive an answer. 


104 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“By the Court. State to the Court, when and where you first 
saw the letter signed A. Arbuthnot, dated April 2nd., 1818, refer- 
red to in the first specification and the second charge. 

“Ans. About the 6th of April, a black man who said he had 
received it from an Indian, gave it to Mr. Ambrister, whom I saw 
reading it. 

“Question by the Court: Do you know by what means that 
letter was conveyed to Suwany? 

“Ans. I understood by an Indian who was sent from Fort St. 
Marks. 

“Question by the Court. Who paid the Indian for carrying the 
letter referred to in the last interrogatory ? 

“Ans. I do not know. é 

“Question by the Court: What steps were taken by the ne- 
groes and Indians on the receipt of the letter ? 

“Ans. They first believed the bearer to be an enemy, and 
confined him, but, learning the contrary, began to prepare for the 
enemy, and the removal of their families and effects across the 
river; the Indians lived on the opposite side. 

“Question by the Court: Did the Indians and negroes act 
together in the performance of military duty? 

‘Ans. No. But they always said they would fight together. 

“Question by the Court: Did not Nero command the black 
and did not Bowlegs own Nero, and was not the latter under the 
immediate command of Bowlegs? 

“Ans. Nero commanded the blacks, and was owned and 
commanded by Bowlegs—But there was some negro captains who 
obeyed none but Nero. 

“Question by the Court: What vessel brought to Suwany the 
ammunition which you said was sold by the prisoner to the Indians 
and negroes? 

“Ans. ‘The schooner Chance, now lying at this wharf; she is 
a foretopsail vessel belonging to the prisoner. 

‘“The witness also indentified to the manuscript of the prisoner 
on the following documents, viz: No. 1, granting him full power 
to act in all cases for the Indians, as recorded before; and also 
a letter without signature, to the Governor of St. Augustine, 
numbered 2; and further, a letter without date, to Mr. Mitchell, 
the Indian agent, numbered 3; and an unsigned petition of the 
chiefs of the Lower Creek Nation, to governor Cameron, praying 
his aid in men and munitions of war, numbered 4; all of which the 
witness stated to be in the handwriting of the prisoner. 


“BXTRACT OF PETITION NO. 4. 
“PETITION OF THE CHIEFS OF THE LOWER CREEK 
NATION, TO GOVERNOR CAMERON. 


“We, the undersigned, deputed by the Creek nation to wait 
on your Excellency, and lay before you their heavy complaints. 
To the English, we have always looked up to as friend, as pro- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 105 


tectors, and on them we now call to aid us in repelling the ap- 
proaching of the Americans. When peace was made between the 
English and the Americans, we were told by Lieut. Col. Nicholls, 
that the Americans were to give up all our land they had taken 
from us. Col. Nicholls left Mr. Hambly in charge of the Fort 
at Prospect Bluff; with orders to hear us, if any cause of complaint, 
and present the same to the British government; but he turned 
traitor, and brought the Americans down on the fort, which was 
blown up, and many of our red brethren destroyed in it. We are 
therefore deputed to demand of your Excellency the assistance of 
troops and ammunition that we may be able effectually to repell 
the attacks of the Americans, and prevent their further encroach- 
ments; and if we return without assistance, the Americans, who 
have their spies among us, will the more quickly come upon us. 
We most humbly pray your excellency will send us such a force 
as will be respected, and make us respectable. 


“(The following endorsed on the foregoing): 

“Charles Cameron, Esquire, Governor, Commander in Chief, 
&e, &e: 

“T beg leave to represent to your excellency the necessity of my 
again returning to the Indian Nation, with the deputies from the 
Chiefs, and as my trouble and expense can only be defrayed by 
permission to take goods to dispose of amongst them, I pray your 
Excellency will be pleased to grant me such a letter or license, as 
will prevent me from being captured in case of meeting any Spanish 
cruizer on the coast of Florida. 

“The Court adjourned to meet tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock. 


“Fort St. Marks, 28th April, 1818. 
“The Court convened pursuant to adjournment. Present: 
Major General E. P. Gaines, President. 


Members. 
Col. King, Colonel Dyer, 
Col. Williams, Lt. Col. Lindsey, 
Lt. Col. Gibson, Lt. Col. Elliott, 
Major Muhlenburg, Major Fanning, 
Major Montgomery, Major Minton, 
Captain Vashon, Captain Crittenden, 


Lt. J. M. Glassell, Recorder. 


“Then the further examination of the witness, Peter B. Cook, 
took place, viz: 

“Question by the Prisoner :—How long have you been acquaint- 
ed with the settlements on the sahwahnee? 

“Ans. Between six and seven months. 

“Question by the P. For what term of years did you engage to 
live with the prisoner? 

“Ans. For no stated period--I was taken by the year. 

“Ques. by the P. Were you not discharged by the prisoner 
from his employ? 


106 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Ans. He told me he had no further use for me after I had 
written the letters to Providence. 

“Ques. Where did you stay after you were discharged ? 

“Ans. I staid in a small house belonging to a boy called St. 
‘John, under the protection of Nero. 

“Question. What was the subject matter. of the letters you 
wrote to Providence? 

“Ans. After being accused by the Prisoner a small venture 
to Providence, I wrote my friend for the means to trade by myself. 

“Question by the prisoner: Do you believe the prisoner had 
knowledge of the ventures being on board the schooner ? 

‘Ans. I don’t believe he did. It was small and in my trunk. 

“Ques. by the P. Do you know that An was the agent 
of the prisoner ? 

“Ans. I do not. 

“Question. Do you think that the powder and the lead shipped 
would more than supply the Indians and negro hunters? 

“Ans. I did not see the powder and lead myself, but was told 
by Bowlegs that he had a great quanity he had there keeping to 
fight with. 

“Ques. Did the Indians reside on the east side of the river? 

“Ans. ‘They did. 

“Ques. You were asked if the negroes and the Indians, when 
the letter marked ‘A’ was communicated, did not take up arms; 
had they received information of the defeat of the Indians at 
Mickasuky prior to that time? 

“Ans. It was afterwards, I believe, they received the in- 
formation. 

“Ques. . Did not Bowlegs keep other powder than that gotten 
from the prisoner ? 

‘““‘Ans. He had some he got from the Bluff which was nearly 
done; he said his hunters were always bothering him about powder. 

“Ques. Did you state that at the time Ambrister ascended 
the river there was no other vessel at the mouth of the river? 

“Ans. ‘There was none other there; there was one had sailed. 

“Ques. There is a letter A spoken of ;how do you know that 
the son of the prisoner had that letter in his possession ? 

“Ans. I saw him with it, which he dropped, and a boy, called 
John, picked up and gave it to me. 

“Ques. You stated that the Indians and negroes doubted 
fidelity of the prisoner in sending letters to the prince regent— 
do you think the prisoner would have been punished by them, 
had he not complied with their wishes? 

“Ans. I do not know. i 

“Ques. Do you believe the prisoner was compelled to write 
the Indian communications ? i 

“Ans. He was not compelled. ue 

“Continuation of the minutes of the proceedings of a special 
Court whereof major general Gaines is president, convened by 
order of the 26th of April, 1818. 

“Fort St. Marks, 27th April, 1818. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 107 


“The Court proceeded with the trial of Robert C. Ambrister, 
a British subject, who, being asked if he had any objection to any 
one of the members of the Court, and replying in the negative, 
was arraigned on the following charges and specifications, viz: 

“Charges against Robert C. Ambrister, now in custody, who 
says he is a British subject. 

“Charged first. Aiding, abetting, and comforting the enemy, 
supplying them with the means of war, he being a subject of 
great Britian, at peace with the United States, and lately an officer 
in the British Colonial marines. 

“Specification Ist. That the said Robert C. Ambrister did 
give intelligence of the movements and operations of the American 
army between the first and twentith of March, 1818, and did ex- 
cite them (the negroes and Indians) to war against the army of the 
United States, by sending their warriors to meet and fight the 
American army—whose government was at peace and friendship 
with the United States, and all her citizens. 

“Charged second. Leading and commanding the Lower Creeks 
in carrying on a war against the United States. 

“Specification Ist. That the said Robert C. Ambrister, a 
subject of Great Britian, which. government was at peace and 
amity with the United States and all her citizens, did, between 
the first of February and twentieth of March, 1818, levy war 
against the United States, by assuming command of the Indians 
in hostility and open war with the United States, and ordering 
a party of them to meet the army of the United States and give 
them battle as will appear by his letters to Governor Cameron 
of New Providence, dated 20th March, 1818, which was marked 
A, B, C and D, and the testimony of Mr. Peter B. Cook, and Cap- 
tain Lewis, of the Schooner Chance. 

By order of the court, 

J. M. Glassell, Recorder. 

“To which charges and specifications, pleaded as follows, viz: 

“To the first charge and specification—Not guilty. 

“To the second charge and specification—Guilty and justifica- 
tion. 

“The Court adjourned to meet tomorrow morning at seven 
o'clock. 

Fort St. Marks, 28th April, 1818. 

“The Court met pursuant to adjournment. Present: 

Major General Gaines, president. 


Members. 
Col. King, Colonel Dyer, 
Col. Williams, Lt. Col. Lindsey, 
Lt. Col. Gibson, Lt. Col. Elliott, 
Major Muhlenberg, Major Fanning, 
Major Montgomery, Major Minton, 
Captain Vashon, Captain Crittenden, 


Lt. Col. J. M. Glassell, Recorder, 


108 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“The Recorder then read to the court the following order, viz: 


“HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE SOUTH, ADJ. GEN.’S OFFICE, 


“St. Marks, 28th April, 1818. 


“‘General Order.— Captain Allison, of the 7th Infantry, is detailed 
to form a supernumerary member of the special court now sitting 
at Fort St. Marks. 

“By order 
“Robert Butler, Adj. Gen. 


‘“‘Pursuant to the above order, the supernumerary member took 
his seat. 

“John Lewis Phoenix, a witness on the part of the prosecution, 
being duly sworn, stated that, about the 5th or 6th of April, 1818, 
his vessel and himself having been captured by the prisoner, and 
he brought to Suwany as a prisoner, there was alarm among the 
negroes and Indians, created by learning some news from Mick- 
asuky, at which time the present appeared active in sending orders 
and sending detachment to meet the American army. ‘The witness 
also stated that the prisoner appeared to be a person vested with 
authority among the negro leader, and gave orders for their pre- 
paration for war, providing ammunition, etc. And that the leader 
came to him for orders. The prisoner furnished them with powder 
and lead and recommended to them the making of balls, sign & c. 
very quickly. The witness also stated that the prisoner occasion- 
ally dressed in uniform, with his sword; and that, on the first alarm, 
which he understood was from Mickasuky, by a negro woman, he 
put on the uniform. , 

“The witness further stated that, sometime about the 20th of 
March, 1818, the prisoner, with an armed body of negroes, (24 in 
number) came on board his vessel and ordered him to pilot them 
to Fort St Marks, which, he stated, he intended to capture before 
the Americans could get there—threatened to hang the witness if 
he did not obey. 

“Question by the Court; Did you ever understand by whose 
authority, and for what purpose the accused came into the country ? 

‘Ans. I have frequently heard him say, he came to attend to 
Mr. Woodbine’s business at the Bay of Tamper. 

“Question by the prisoner: Did I not tell you, when I came on 
board the schooner Chance, I wished you would pilot me to St. 
Marks, as I was informed that two Americans by the names of 
Hambly and Doyle, were confined there and wished to have them 
releaved from their confinement ? 

“Ans.. You stated you wanted to get Hambly and Doyle from 
St. Marks. I do not know what were your intentions in so doing. 

“Ques. Did I not tell you that I expected the Indians would 
fire upon me when arriving at St. Marks. ? 

“Ans. You did not; you stated that you intended to take the 
fort, in the night by surprise. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 109 


“Ques. Did you see me give ammunition to the negroes and 
Indians; and, if so, how much, and at what time? 

““Ans. I saw you give powder and lead to the negroes when you 
came on board and advised them to make balls; and I saw you give 
liquor and paint to the Indians. 

“Ques. Have you not often heard me say, between the Ist and 
20th of April, that I would not have anything to do with the negroes 
and Indians in exciting them to war with the United States? 

“Ans. About the 15th of April, I heard you say that you would 
not have anything to do with the negroes and Indians; I heard noth- 
ing about exciting them to war. 

“Ques. Can you read writing? 

“Ans. Not English writing. 

“Ques. Did you not hear me say when arriving at Suwany, that 
I wished to be off immediately for Providence? 

“Ans. I did not; after the alarm, you said you wished to be off 
for Tamper. 

“Ques. Did you not say to the accused you wished to visit Mr. 
Arthur Arbuthnot, at his store on Suwany, and get provisions your- 
self? 

“Ans. I did not; I stated I wanted to visit him. 


“Ques. Did I send or command any Indians to go and fight the 
Americans? \ 


“Ans. I did not exactly know that you cent them; the Indians 
and negroes were crowded before your door and you were dividing 
the paint &c. among them; and I understood a party was going 
to march. 


“Ques. Did I not give up the schooner to you in charge, as 
captain ? 

“Ans. After our return from Suwany Town, you directed me 
to take charge of her to go to Tamper. 


“John I Arbuthnot, a witness on the part of the prosecution, 
being duly sworn, stated that some time about the 23rd. of March, 
the prisoner came with a body of negroes, partly armed, to his 
father’s store on Suwany river, and told the witness he had come 
to do justice to the country, by taking the goods and distributing 
them among the negroes and Indians which the witness saw the 
prisoner do; and that the prisoner stated to him, that he had come 
to the Country on Woodbine’s business, to see the negroes righted. 
The witness has further known the prisoner to give orders to the 
the negroes, and that, at his suggestion, a party was sent from 
Suwany to meet the Americans, to give them battle—which party 
returned on meeting the Mickasuky Indians in their flight. The 
witness also testified to the following letter, marked ‘A’, and re- 
ferred to in the specification of the second charge, as the Ww riting 
of the prisoner. 


110 . ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


' A. 
“ROBERT C. AMBRISTER TO GOVERNOR CAMERON. 
“‘Sahwahnee, near St. Marks Fort, 
“March 20th, 1818. 

“Sir—I am reavesee particularly by all our Indian Chiefs, 
to acquaint your excellency, that the Americans have commenced 
hostilities with them two yerrs ago, and have advanced some con- 
siderable distance in this country, and are now making daily pro- 
gress. "They say they sent a number of letters to your excellency, 
but have never received one answer, which makes them believe 
that he never delivered them; and will oblige them much if you 
will let me know whether he did or not. The purport of the letters 
were, begging your excellency to be kind enough to send them down 
some gun powder, musket balls, lead, cannon, & c. as they are now 
completely out of those articles. The Americans may march 
through the whole territory in one month and without arms, & c. 
they must surrender. Hillis Hajo, or Francis, the Indian Chief, 
the one that was in England, tells me to let your excellency know 
that the prince regent told him that, whenever he wanted ammu- 
nition, your excellency would supply him with as much as he 
wanted. They begged me to press upon your excellency’s mind 
to send the above mentioned articles down by the vessel that brings 
this to you, as she will sail for this place immediately—and let the 
prince regent know of their situation. Any letters that your ex- 
cellency may send down, be good enough to direct to me, as they 
have great dependence in my writing. Any news that your ex- 
cellency may have respecting them and America will be doing a 
great favor to let me know, that I may send among them. ‘There 
is mow a very large body of Americans and Indians, who I expect 
will attack us every day, and God only knows how it will be de- 
cided. But I must only say, this will be the last effort with us. 
There has been a body of Indians gone to meet them and I have 
sent another party. I hope your excellency will be pleased to grant 
the favor they request. 

“TI have nothing further to add, but am, sir, with due respect, 
your obedient, humble servant, 

‘Robert C. Ambrister. 

“Ques. By the Prisoner: Did you hear me say that I came 
on Woodbine’s business ? 

“Ans. I did. 

“Question by the Prisoner. Were not the negroes alluded to at 
Arbuthnot’s store before I arrived? 

“Ans. No, you came with them. 

“Peter B. Cook, a witness on the part of the prosecution, be- 
ing duly sworn, stated, that he never heard the prisoner give any 
orders to negroes or Indians; that the prisoner distributed Arbuth- 
not’s goods, and also, paint to the negroes and Indians. 

‘“‘Also, that some powder was brought from the vessel to 
Suwany by the prisoner, and distributed among the negroes by 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsTORY 111 


Nero. Sometime in March, the prisoner took Arbuthnot’s schoon- 
er, and with an armed party of negroes, 24 in number, set out for 
St. Marks, for the purpose of taking Arbuthnot’s goods at that 
place; and stated that he would compell the commandant to de- 
liver them up. On hearing of the approach of the American army 
the prisoner told the negroes it was useless to run, for if they ran 
any farther they would be driven into the sea. 

“The prisoner told the witness that he had been a lieutenant 
in the British army, under Col. Nicholls. The Prisoner was sent 
by Woodbine to Tamper to see about those negroes he had left. 
there. ‘The prisoner told the witness that he had written a letter 
to Governor Cameron for ammunition for the Indians some time 
in March, and also told the witness that he had a commission in 
the patriot army, under McGregor, and that he had expected 
a captaincy. ‘The witness testified to the letters, marked A, B, 
_C, and D, and referred to in the specification in the second charge, 
were in the handwriting of the prisoner and one marked E. 


D 
“FROM ROBERT C. AMBRISTER TO GOVERNOR CAMERON, &c. 


“Suhwahnee, 20th March, 1918. 
Near Fort St. Marks. 


“Sir—I am requested by Francis and all the Indian chiefs to 
acquaint your excellency, that they are at war with the Americans, 
and have been sometime back. ‘That they are in great distress for 
want of ammunition, balls, arms, &c. and have wrote by Mr. 
Arbuthnot, several times, but they suppose he never delivered them 
to your excellency. You will oblige tham much to let them know 
whether he did or not. 

“I expect the Americans and Indians will attack us daily. I 
have sent a part of men to oppose them. ‘They beg on me to press 
on your excellency’s mind to lay the situation of the country before 
the prince regent and ask for assistance. 

“All news respecting them, your excellency will do a favor to let 
us know by the first opportunity, that Imay make them acquainted. 
Ihave given directions to the captain to let your excellency know 
when the vessel will sailfor thisplace. I hope yourexcellency will be 
pleased to send them the ammunition. I expect, if they do not’ 
procure some very shortly, that the Americans will march through 
the country. 

“TY have nothing further to add. 

“T am, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant, 

“Robert C. Ambrister. 
E 
“FROM ROBERT C. ANBRISTER TO PETER B. COOK. 


“Mouth of the River. 


“Dr. Cook: The boat arrived here about three o’clock on 
Thursday. The wind has been ahead ever since; I have been down. 


112 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


The rudder of the vessel is in a bad codition; but I will manage to 
have it done tonight. The wind, I am in hopes, will be fair in the 
morning, when I will get under weigh, and make all possible dis- 
patch. I will make old Lewis pilot me safe. If those Indians 
dont conduct themselves, straight, I will use rigorous means with 
them. Beware of Mr. Jerry; I found him on board when I came. 
Keep a good look out. I have sent two kegs of powder and bar 
of lead. “Yours &c. 
*“RegAe 


“TUESDAY 3 O’ CLOCK. 


“Ques. by the Prisoner: Did you not frequently hear me say 
that I would have nothing to do with the Indians in exciting them 
to war with the United States? 

“Ans. I do not recollect. 

“Question by the prisoner. Are you acquainted with Lewis 
Phenix, and have you not heard hint express ill will against me, in 
consequence of my wishing him to pilot me to St. Marks? 

“Ans. I never did. 

“Ques. Do you know of my sending troops at any time to fight 
against the United States; and I have not been constantly with 
you, so that you would have had an opportunity, of knowing if 
there had been any sent by me? 

‘Ans. I have not: they might have sent them without my 
knowledge. 

“Jacob Harrison, a witness on the part of the prosecution be- 
- ing duly sworn, that some time in the latter end of March, or first 
of April, the prisoner took possession of the Schooner Chance, with 
an armed party of negroes, and stated his intentions of taking St. 
Marks. On his way thither, going ashore, he learned from some 
Indians that Arbuthnot had gone to St. Marks, which induced 
him to return. The witness also stated that, while the prisoner 
was on board, he had complete command of the negroes, who con- 
sidered him as their captain. ‘The prisoner took the cargo of the 
vessel up towards Suwany, which consisted of, with other articles, 
nine kegs of powder and 500 pounds of lead. 

‘The evidence on both sides closed, the prisoner was allowed 
until 5 o’clock this evening to make his defense. 

" “The time allowed the prisoner for the preparation of his defence 
having expired, he was brought before the court, and made the de- 
fence marked M, which is attached to these proceedings. 

‘The court was then cleared, and the proceedings read over by 
the recorder, when, after due deliberation on the testimony brought 
forward, the court find the prisoner, Robert C. Ambrister, guilty 
of so much of the specification to the first charge, as follows, viz: 
“and did excite to war with the United States; by sending their 
warriors to m2et and fight the American army, he being a subject 
of Great Britian, which government was at peace and friendship 
with the United States, and all her citizens but not guilty of the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 113 


other part of the specification, guilty of the specification of 
the second charge, and guilty of the second charge;and do, there- 
fofe, sentence the prisoner, Robert C. Ambrister, to suffer death, 
by being shot, two-thirds of the court concurring therein. 

“One of the members of the court requesting a reconsideration 
oi his vote on the sentence; the sense of the court was taken there- 
on, and decided in the affirmative, when the vote was again taken, 
and the court sentence the prisoner to receive fifty stripes on his bare 
back, and be confined with a ball and chain to hard labour for 
twelve calender months. 

“The court adjourned, sine die. 

“Edmund P. Gaines. 

Major-General by brevet, President of the Court. 

“J. M. Glassell, Recorder. 
“DEFENCE M. 
Fort St. Marks, April 28th, 1818. 

“United States ot Ameiica, 

vs. 

Robert Christy Ambrister, 

“‘Who being arraigned before a special Court Martial, upon the 
following charges towit: 

“First. Aiding, abetting, and comforting (the Indians), sup- 
plying them with the means of war, he being a subject of Great 
Britian at peace with the United States, and lately an officer in the 
British colonial marines. 

“Charge 2nd. Leading and commanding the Lower Creek 
Indians in carrying on war against the United States. 

“To the first charge the prisoner at the bar pleads not guilty, 
and, as to the second charge, he pleads guilty, and justification. 
The prisoner at the bar feels grateful to this honorable court for 
their goodness in giving him sufficient time to deliberate, and 
arrange his defense on the above charges. 

“The prisoner at the bar, here avails himself of the opportunity 
of stating to this court, that, inasmuch as the testimony which was: 
introduced in this case, was very explicit, and went to every point 
the prisoner could wish, he has nothing further to offer in his de- 
fense, but puts himself upon the mercy of the honourable court. 

“Robert C. Ambrister. 

““HEADQUARTERS,DIVISION OF THE SOUTH, ADJUTANT GENERAL’S 

OFFICE. 

Camp 4 miles north of St. Mark’s, April 29th, 1818. 

“GENERAL ORDER. 

“At a special court martial, commenced on the 26th inst. at 
St. Marks, and continued until the night of the 28th, of which 
brevet Major-General E. P. Gaines is President, was tried A. 
Arbuthnot, on the following charges and specifications, viz: 

“Charge Ist. Exciting and stirring up the Creek Indians to 
war against the United States and her citizens, he, A. Arbuthnot, 
being a subject of Great-Britian, with whom the United States 
are at peace. 


8 


114 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Charge 2d. Acting as a spy; aiding, abetting, and comfort- 
ing the enemy, and supplying them with the means of war. 

“Charge 3d. Exciting the Indians to murder and destroy 
William Hambly and Edmund Doyle, confiscate their property, 
and causing their arrest, with a view ‘to their condemnation to 
death, and the seizure of their property, they being citizens of 
Spain, on account of their active and zealous exertions to main- 
tain peace between Spain, the United States and the Indians. 


“To which charges the prisoner pleaded not guilty. 


“The Court, after mature deliberation on the evidence adduced, 
find the prisoner A. Arbuthnot, guilty of the first charge and 
guilty of the second charge, leaving out the words ‘acting as a 
spy.’ and, after mature reflection, sentence him, A. Arbuthnot, 
to be suspended by the neck, until he is dead. 

Was also tried, Robert C. Ambrister, on the following charges, 
VIZ: 

“Charge Ist. Aiding, abetting, and comforting the enemy, 
and supplying them with the means of war, he being a subject of 
Great-Britian, who are at peace with the United States, and late 
an officer in the British colonial marines. 


“Charge 2nd. Leading and commanding the lower Creek 
Indians in carrying on a war against the United States. 

“To which charges the prisoner pleaded as follows: to the Ist 
charge, not guilty; to the 2nd. charge, guilty, and justification. 

“The court, on examination of evidence, and on mature delib- 
eration, find the prisoner, Robert C. Ambrister, guilty of the 
Ist. and 2nd. charges; and do, therefore, sentence him to suffer 
death, by being shot. The members requesting a reconsideration 
of the vote on this sentence, and it being had, they sentence the 
prisoner to receive fifty stripes on his bare back, and be confined 
with a ball and chain, to hard labour, for twelve calender months. 


“The Commanding General approves the finding and sentence 
of the court in the case of A. Arbuthnot, and approves the finding 
and first sentence of the court in the case of Robert C. Ambrister, 
and disapproves the re-consideration of the sentence of the hon- 
ourable court in this case. 


“It appears, from the evidence and pleadings-of the prisoner, 
that he did lead and command within the territory of Spain (being 
a subject of Great-Britian) the Indians in war against the United 
States, those nations being at peace. It is an established principle 
of the laws of nations, that any individual of a nation making war 
against the citizens against any other nation, they being at peace, 
forfeits his allegiance and becomes an outlaw and pirate. This is 
the case of Robert C. Ambrister, clearly shown by the evidence 
aduced. 


‘The Commanding General orders that brevet Major A. C. W. 
Fanning, of the corp of artillery, will have, between the hours of 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 115 


8 and 9 o'clock A.M., A. Arbuthnot suspended by the neck with 
rope until he is dead, and Robert C. Ambrister to be shot to death, 
agreeable to the sentence of the Court. 

“John James Arbuthnot, will be furnished with a passage to 
Pensacola, by the first vessel. 

“The Special Court, of which brevet Major-General E. P. 
Gaines is President, is dissolved. 

“By order of Major-General Jackson. 

“Robert Butler, Adjustant-General.”’ 


116 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSE HISTORY 


Sc Ge 
5 CHAPTER 6. a5 
Sc oc 
#; John Howard Payne, Author of “Home Sweet % 
cd Home’, made a prisoner by the Georgia State fy 
5 Guard; extracts from his communication in & 
a Knoxville Register on his imprisonment; offer- ay 
bd ed a public entertainment at Knoxville but de- 
4 clines; he is endorsed by public meeting at & 
cg Knoxville; letter to his sister. a 
Sc 


: 
| 


The whole civilized world is interested in anything that per- 
tains to John Howard Payne, the author of ‘‘Home, Sweet Home,”’ 
but a very small part of that world knowns of his arrest in 1835 
with John Ross, the Cherokee Chief, by the Georgia Guard, at the 
time that feeling was acute and bitter between the State Govern- 
ment of Georgia and the Cherokees and any one who sympathized 
with them. ‘The arrest and imprisonment made a sensation, 
not only among the friends and enemies of the Cherokees, but 
in literary circles in all parts of the Country. The arrest was in 
gross violation of Payne’s rights as a citizen, and even among 
the enemies of the Cherokees (who were also Payne’s enemies) 
the act was denounced, and no one assumed to defend it. We pre- 
sent some interesting quotations both from Payne himself and 
from newspapers in reference to the incident. 


JOHN HOWARD PAYNE 


“We have received an extra sheet from the office of the Knox- 
ville Register, published by Frederick S. Heiskell, containing, in 
an appeal from Mr. Payne to his countrymen, the story of the 
barbarous wrongs inflicted upon this respectable gentleman by a 
band of persons calling themselves ‘‘the Georgia guard,” but who 
appear to have acted upon suggestions from higher authority, in 
the persons of U. States’ agent sent to make treaties with the 
Cherokees. This appeal, though chiefly directed to the citizens 
of Georgia, whose authority has been abused, and to those of 
‘Tennessee, whose territory has been violated, should be inserted 
at length in our columns if they were not so much occupied just 
now with heavy documents of a national character as to prevent 
it. ‘The reader will perceive, by the subjoined articles from the 
Knoxville paper, however, that the people of that state entertain 
a proper sense of the indignity which Mr. P. has suffered, and of the 


JOHN HOWARD PAYNE. 
Author of ‘Home Sweet Home.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 117 


outrage which, in his person, has been perpetrated by these lawless 
persons upon the sovereignty of the state of Tennessee. There 
can be no doubt of an equal indigation being roused in the breasts 
of the people of Georgia against the persons who have trespassed, 
in the name of that state, on the clearest and dearest rights of an 
American citizen.” (National Intelligencer) 


BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER AND PATRIOT, 
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1835. 


“John Howard Payne, who was arrested by the Georgia Guard 
in the Cherokee country, has been released after a detention of 
three weeks. 

“DECEMBER 22, 1835. 

“Mr. John Howard Payne—— This gentleman has published 
in a Knoxville paper a narrative of his late imprisonment by the 
Georgia Guard in the Cherokee Territory. The narrative is of 
too great a length to admit of our publishing it entire. We shall, 
however, select such passages of it as will enable the reader to 
judge of the pretenses on which he was seized, and the treatment 
which he received. It seems that Mr. Payne was traveling for the 
purpose of collecting historical and other information, to be used in 
certain publications which he has in view, and in pursuit of this 
purpose he made a visit to Mr. John Ross, the principal Chief of 
the Cherokees, whose residence was in the limits of the State of 
Georgia. Mr. Ross received him with great kindness, and gave 
him free use of manuscripts collected by himself, and by his pred- 
ecessor in office. The rest of Mr. Payne’s story may be collected 
from the following extracts from his narrative. 

“I pressed Young to let us know on what grounds we were 
arrested. “Why,’ he said, ‘I can tell you one thing they’ve got 
agin you, only you needn't say nothing that I told you. They say 
you're an Abolitionist.’ I could not help laughing at the ex- 
cessive absurdity of this, and considered it as mere dream of the 
man whose brain often seemed in the wrong place. At the same 
time he told Mr. Ross that the charge upon him was that he had 
impeded taking the census. Mr. Ross repelled the accusation 
indignantly, and required to know his accuser. Young said all 
he could tell was that Major Currey gave him the order for our 
arrest; that he had not only a written but a verbal order from Ma- 
jor Currey, and upon that we were taken. What the verbal order 
was, he would not tell to anybody. 

“Mr. John Ridge was in the enclosure and closeted with Col. 
Bishop. It was said he was at first denied an interview with Mr. 
Ross; but at length Mr. Ross was sent for to meet Ridge and Bi- 
shop. After a few words, Bishop suddenly arose and left them 
together. When Mr. Ross returned, ‘It is all out now,’ he ex- 
claimed tome. ‘We are both Abolitionists and here for a capital 
offense. We are the agents of some great men, Mr. Clay, Mr. 
Calhoun, Judge White, Mr. Poindexter, and the Lord knows 


118 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


who, — and we have both plotted in concert with them to raise 
an insurrection among the negroes who are to join the Indian 
against the whites! I could not even yet regard the charge as 
having ever been made seriously, but Mr. Ross was assured it had 
been; and he added, ‘Bishop wishes to screen Currey and take the 
arrest upon himself; so we had better say nothing about that.’ 
In the evening Mr. Ridge had another interview; and on Monday, 
Nov. 16th, all were closeted for some hours. About four, Mr. 
Ross entered our room with a bundle in his hand. ‘I’ve got my 
papers,” he exclaimed, dashing them into the bunk, and we went 
to dinner. Bishop and his brother sat opposite. They were 
silent, and all the party appeared nettled. I will do the brace of 
Bishops the justice to own that they both, from first to last, seemed 
in their hearts ashamed to meet my glance, notwithstanding much 
outward swagger. When dinner was ended Col. Bishop, giving a 
sort of menacing look at me, exclaimed to the sentinel, with an 
emphatic gesture, ‘Mr. Ross is discharged.’ 


“On Friday morning, Nov. 20th, I perceived preparations 
for something unusual. The men were all summoned to be ready 
at the roll of the drum. My horse was ordered out, as I under- 
stood, to be taken to water. But I was convinced, from many 
signs, that I myself was the object of the mysterious movements. 
A son of the Colonel kept staring around at me with intense cur- 
iosity, and many looked on in silence, as persons look upon any 
one about to undergo some terrible ordeal. The Colonel’s horse 
was saddled and put in readiness; and another horse was also 
prepared, and Mr. Joshua Holden appeared, equipped for a cam- 
paign. At length, the drum beat. I heard the sergeant say, re- 
commending some one to the Captain, — ‘Colonel, he may be 
trusted.’ And now one of the guard ran to me — ‘Your saddle 
bags — your saddle bags.’ ‘Why?’ ‘You're going out.’ I 
went to the bunk. ‘Is there not some mischief intended?’ asked 
I. ‘I can’t tell; but you'd better make me a present of that buffalo 
hide.” ‘No,’ answered I, ‘it was given to me, and has been too 
good a friend to me in trouble.’ The guard took the saddle bags 
and buffalo skin, and with it a very large and cumbersome cloak 
and some loose clothes. I found them heaped upon my horse. 
‘The straps to fasten these are not here.’ ‘I can’t help it,’ 
was the answer. — ‘Get on — geton.’ ‘I cannot over this pile 
of things.’ — ‘‘You must.’ ‘This is not my bridle — mine was a 
new one and double — where are my martingales? my Straps?’ 
‘Get on — get on.’ I was compelled to mount; the mass of 
unfastened things was piled up before me; the saddle was loosely 
girted, and the horse was startled, and, as if on purpose, covered 
with mud. I still claimed my bridle, but was conducted in front of 
the paraded guard, — he who led my horse muttering as he went, 
‘that’s the bridle they said was yours.' The Captain-Colonel 
stood in front of his men. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HIsTorRyY 119 


‘Halt your horse there, sir, and beware how you speak a word.’ 
I attempted to speak, — but he shouted — ‘Be silent, sir. Look 
upon them men. Them’s the men you in your writtings have 
called banditti.’ 

“Whether the eloquent Captain-Colonel imagined I meant to 
reply, I cannot say; but he repeated, eagerly, ‘Don’t speak, sir.’ 

“And I did not speak, but I did look upon the men; and, if 
ever I compared them in appearance to Banditti, the glance of 
that moment made me feel that I ought to ask of any Banditti the 
most respectful pardon. Spirit of Shakespeare, forgive me, too; 
for if thy Falstaff and his ragged regiment came into my mind at 
such a moment, it was my misfortune, not my fault. But I will 
proceed. 

“You've came into this country to pry, ever since you arriv, into 
things you’ve no business with. You're a d - d incendiary, sir. 
You’ve come into this country to rise up the Cherokees against 
the whites. You’ve wrote agin these worthy men (pointing to 
the Guards); You’ve wrote agin the State of Georgia. You’ve 
wrote agin the gineral Government of the United States. Above 
all, sir, You've wrote agin ME! Now, sir —”’ 

“Then turning — with an aside speech with some bystander, 
I think it was Mr. Joshua Holden — ‘Hand the things,’ said the 
Captain-Colonel; and a bundle with a loop, carefully prearranged 
so as to let the arm through, was given to me. 

“Now, sir, take your papers. Hang’em on your arm, sir, 
and I order you to cut out of Georgia. If ever you dare again shew 
your face within the limits of Georgia, I'll make you curse the 
moment with your last breath. With your foul attacks upon me 
you've filled the Georgia papers.” 

“I could not very well endure to hear assertions so utterly un- 
founded, and took advantage of the pause of the eloquent Captain- 
Colonel for breath, and exclaimed, rather vehemently, — ‘Upon 
my honor, no, sir!’”’ 

“Hold your tongue, I say,’’ resumed my jailor. ‘““The minute 
you hear the tap of the drum,] tell you to cut out of this yard, and 
I order you never, while you exist, to be seen in this State of ours 
any more; for if you are, I'll make yourue it. Let this be a lesson 
for you, and thank my sympathy for a stranger that you have 
been treated with extraordinary kindness; and now, sir, clear out 
of this State for ever, and go to John Ross, G-d d—n you!” 

“T looked upon this pitiable exhibition with more of compas- 
sion than of resentment; and it seemed to me as if most of the guard 
felt sorry for their leader. Never before so forcibly did I realize 
the truth of that beautiful passage: 


‘Frail man, frail man, 
Drest in a little brief authority, 
Play such fantastic tricks before high heaven, 
As makes the angels weep!” 


120 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“T claimed my bridle again, but in vain; and I then moved of 
necessity slowly from the place, because I had great difficulty in 
detaining the things which were piled upon my horse. When I 
got outside of the lines, some of the affairs dropped off, and I stop- 
ped to ask a person to hand them to me, and at the same time to 
enquire the route to Big Spring. On turning a corner, a stranger 
told me I had better stop and dismount and arrange my baggage; 
and just then a gentleman called that he wished a word with me, 
and approached. He said he had a letter to show me. I asked 
him the direction towards the residence of Mr. Ross. I saw that 
the letter he handed was from Mr. Ross, and related to my route. 
At that moment Col. Bishop and Mr. Joshua Holden dashed up 
like fiends. Bishop cursed me, threatened me, if I dared to speak 
to any ‘ d—d Nullifier,’) and meanaced to make an example of 
me if I did not get instantly out of the State. 

“My stay with Mr. Ross having been so unexpectedly protract- 
ed, of course the range of my collection was extended. In addition 
to the literature and anecdote of the nation, I involuntarily became 
well acquainted with its politics, because I had transcribed nearly 
all the documents relative to the recent negotiations for a Treaty. 
I thought these curious, not only as historical evidence, but as 
specimens of Indian diplomacy, more complete than any upon 
record in any age or country. I confess I was suprised at what 
these papers unfolded regarding the system pursued by the agents: 
of our Government, and I thought if the real position of the ques- 
tion were once understood by our own country and its rulers, their 
ends would be sought by different and unexceptionable means. 
Though no politician, as a philanthropist, I fancied good might 
be done by a series of papers upon the subject. I conceived, as an 
American, it was one of the most precious and most undisputed 
of my rights, to examine any subject entirely national, especially 
if I could render services to the country by such explanations as 
peculiar circumstances might enable me to offer. For this purpose 
I commenced such a series as I have spoken of, but having written 
one number, I thought I would lay it by for consideration, and 
forbear to make up my mind finally until I saw how matters were 
carried on at the Council then approaching. The number in ques- 
tion was consequently put aside — and no second number was ever 
written. 

“It had been suggested that great service might be done by 
an address to the people of the United States from the Cherokees, 
explaining fully and distinctly all their views and feelings. I was 
told that no one had ever possessed such opportunities as mine had 
been for understanding these. I took the hint and felt gratified 
in the opportunity of enabling the nation to plead its own cause. 
I promised to prepare such an address, and if approved it was to 
be sent round by runners for the signature of every Cherokee within 
the country. I confess I felt proud of an advocacy in which some 
of the first talent of the land had heretofore exulted to engage. 
I only lamented that my powers were so unequal to my zeal. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HistTozy 121 


The council adjourned. Mr. Ross pressed me to return to 
his house, which I did for the purpose of awaiting the journey of 
the messenger, whom he had promised to send some eighty miles 
across the country, for a complete file of the Cherokee Phoenix 
newspaper, of which after long search, I had made the discovery 
and obtained the offer. During the absence of the messenger I 
renewed my transcription of documents. I also completed the 
address for the Cherokee nation. It was approved, and measures 
were to be taken for obtaining the signatures of all the people. 
It was now Saturday evening, November 7. I had determined on 
Monday morning to depart, taking, on my road back through 
Athens, the Stone mountain of Georgia, a view of which had been 
one of the leading objects of my journey. 

“My papers were piled upon the table, ready to be packed for 
my approaching journey. At about eleven, I was in the midst of a 
copy from a talk held by Gen. Washington in 1794 with a delega- 
tion of Cherokee Chiefs. Suddenly there was a loud barking of 
dogs; the quick tramp of galloping horses, the rush of many feet; 
and a hoarse voice just at my side shouted, Ross! Ross!’ Before 
there was time for reply, the voice was heard at the door opposite, 
which was burst open. Armed men appeared. ‘Mr. Ross,’ 
‘Well, gentlemen.’ ‘We have business with you, sir.’ 

“The room was filled with the Georgia Guard — their bayonets 
fixed, and some, if not all, with their pistols and dirks or dirk 
knives. An exceedingly long, lank man, with a roundabout jacket, 
planted himself by my side, his pistol resting against my breast. 
“You are to consider yourself a prisoner,’ said he to Mr. Ross. 
‘Well, gentlemen, I shall not resist, but what have I done? Why 
am I a prisoner? By whose order am I taken?’ ‘You'll know 
that soon enough. Give up your papers and prepare to go with 
us. And then a scramble began for papers: I had not moved 
from my place, when the long, lank man, whom I afterwards 
found was Sergeant Young, leader of the gang, began to rummage 
among the things upon the table. ‘These, sir,’ observed I, ‘are 
my papers. I suppose you don’t want these.’ Young, his pistol 
pointed, struck me across the mouth. ‘Hold your d—d tongue,’ 
he vociferated. “You are here after no good. Yours are jest: 
what we do want. Have your horse caught and be off with us. 
We can’t stay.’ It was useless to reply. 


“We went to our prison. It was a small log hut, with no win- 
dow and one door. At one end was what they call a bunk — a 
wide case of rough boards filled with straw. There were two 
others on one side of the room, and opposite to them a fire place. 
Overhead were poles, on which hung saddle bags, old coats, and 
various other matters of the same description. In one corner sat 
an Indian chained to a table, by the leg, his arms tightly pinioned. 
We found it was the son of the Speaker of the Council, Going 
Snake. They had charged him with refusing to give his name and 
the number of his family to the United States Census taker. He 


122 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSE HiIsToRY 


denied the accusation but this denial was unheeded. He smiled 
and seemed patient. They removed him, and left us the only 
prisoners; but never alone. The door was always open. The 
place was a rendezvous for all the guard and all their friends. 
Two sentinels with muskets loaded and bayonets fixed kept us 
always in view; the place of one was in the house, and of the other 
outside. I was wet to the skin, fatigued, and unconsciously 
sighed; at that moment I saw two of the young men exchange looks 
and laugh. Throughout the day I heard dark phrases which 
I interpreted to betoken some intended mischief. 

(Note: These extracts, with same introductory paragraph, 
are published in the Independent Chronicle and Boston Patriot, 
December 23 1835.) 


FROM NILES’ WEEKLY REGISTER, BALTIMORE, 


sept. 5, 1835. 
“Mr. John Howard Payne, a gentleman well known to the 
literary world, has been arrested under the suspicion of his having 
conspired with Ross, against the welfare of Georgia, and it is said 
his papers give evidence of the fact. We have no precise infor- 
mation on the subject; but we fear that this gentleman has suffered 
injustice from the excited temper of the times. 


PAYNE’S ADDRESS TO CITIZENS OF GEORGIA. 
‘Calhoun, Tenn. Nov. 23d, 1835. 


‘“‘John Howard Payne respectfully begs the citizens of Georgia 
to suspend their opinion for a few days, upon the subject of a recent 
arrest within the chartered limits of Tennessee by the Georgia 
guard, of Mr. Payne, in the company with Mr. John Ross, prin- 
cipal chief of the Cherokee nation. Mr. Payne, of course, cannot 
identify the state of Georgia with this gross violation of the con- 
stitution of the United States, or the right of an American citizen, 
and of the known hospitality of the south to strangers. But as he 
is conscious that every act which can be devised will be resorted 
to for the purpose of endeavoring to cover such an act from public 
indignation, he thinks it due to justice to promise that a full and 
honest statement be submitted the moment it can be prepared.” 

—From the Georgia Constutionalist., 


PAYNE OFFERED A PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT AT KNOXVILLE. 
“Knoxville, Nov. 30, 1835. 

“John Howard Payne, Esq. 

“We sincerely regret the late circumstances which occured 
on the border of our state, in which your person and rights were 
violently outraged by a band of lawless soldiers; and assure you of 
our cordial sympathy in the feeling of just indignation which such 
conduct cannot but have created in your own breast. We ack- 
nowledge with unfeigned satisfaction the justice of that well-earned 
fame which the author of ‘Brutus’ has obtained, both in Europe 


ANDREW JOCKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 123 


and America, and holding your literary worth and attainments in 
the highest esteem, and wishing to render them humble testimony 
of our approbation, we respectfully invite your attendence at a 
public entertainment at the Treamont house, at such time as may 
best suit your convenience. Very respectfully,” 

(Signed by a comittee on behalf of the citizens of Knoxville, 
consisting of sixteen of the most respectable names of the town.) 


“Knoxville, Nov. 30, 1835, 
“GENTLEMEN: I beg to return you my sincerest thanks for the 
attention of your letter and for the distinction which you propose. 
Your kindness is valuable to me for more than the compliment 
involved in it to me personally. I prize it as an encouraging 
evidence, given at a very critical moment, that no considerations 
of party politics will prevent you from declaring your indignation 
at a wanton and arbitrary and lawless outrage upon the sacred 
rights of an American citizen. In your expression of that proper 
feeling as compatriots of my own,I feel consoled for what I have 
been made to suffer by those who dragged me from the chartered 
limits of your state to insulting captivity elsewhere. You will, 
therefore, do me the justice to believe, that, in declining the honor 
you suggest, I do not the less appreciate the motive. It is only 
because I find it indispensable to pursue my journey without delay, 
that I must excuse myself from an invitation, which, under any 
circumstances, would be flattering, but under those which surround 
me now is doubly endeared to, gentlemen, most respectfully, your 
obliged countryman, 
“John Howard Payne. 


“To Thomas W. Humes, Esq. and”’ other gentlemen of Knox- 
ville. 
“PUBLIC MEETING. 


“At a public meeting of the citizens of Knox County, at the 
court house in Knoxville, on the 2d day December, 1835, on motion 
of Thomas W. Humes, Robert M. Anderson, Esq., was called to 
the chair, and David A. Deaderick appointed secretary. The ob- 
ject of the meeting was explained by the chairman. 


“Spencer Jarnagin, Esq., presented the following preamble and 
resolutions, to wit: 


“Intelligence having reached this place of the lawless action, 
within the chartered limits of the state of Tennessee, of our 
countryman and literary friend, John Payne, of the state of New 
York, by an armed force from the state of Georgia; of his sub- 
sequent detention for thirteen days, and brutal treatment in a 
guard house at Spring Place, in Georgia, all confirmed by the pub- 
lished statement of Mr. Payne, and feeling that this insult to the 
laws of Tennessee, and outrage upon her protection and hospitality, 
this wanton violation of the sacred rights of personal liberty and 
security of an American citizen, call loudly for an expression 


124 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTorRY 


of public indignation, we, the citizens of Knox county, in the ex- 
ercise of our rights as freemen, have adopted the following re- 
solutions: 

“Resolved, That it is proper for the state of Tennessee to 
assert and maintain the integrity of her territory and laws, dem- 
onstrating that obedience to those laws will insure protection to 
all who may visit her for literary or other lawful purposes. 

“Resolved, That we learned with unfeigned regret, the law- 
less arrest and detention of John Howard Payne, by an armed 
force, pretending to act by public authority; that his situation 
command the sympathy of all but the lawless, and he has our 
praise for his philosophic endurance of insult, outrage and violence. 

“Resolved, That the noble and chivalric character of the state 
of Georgia is not to be compromized by the lawless deeds of per- 
sons pretending to act by her authority, and that we deem her 
incapable of a wilful violation of the territorial jurisdiction, laws 
and rights of Tennessee, and we trust she will promptly inquire 
into the alleged outrage, and do herself justice. 

“On motion of Joseph Scott, Esq., seconded by the Hon. Jacob 
Peck, one of the judges of the supreme court, the following was 
added: 

“Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and reso- 
lutions, together with the published statement of facts by Mr. 
Payne, be sent to the president of the United States, the governors 
of the states of Georgia and Tennessee and to speakers of each 
branch of the legislature of Tennessee. 

“On motion of Dr. Donald McIntosh, seconded by Dr. William 


J. Baker, the following was added: 


“Resolved, the secretary of this meeting furnish John Howard 
Payne with a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions. 


“The foregoing preamble and resolutions were then read and 
unanimously adopted. 


“The governor of Georgia transmitted the following message 
to the legislature of that state on the 28th instant: 


“Executive department, Ga. Milledgeville, Nov. 28, 1835. 
A resolution of senate, passed on the 24th inst. was handed to me 
yesterday, requesting ‘the governor to lay before that branch of 
the general assembly, all the information in his possession relative 
to the arrest and detention of John Howard Payne, Esq., and John 
Ross, by the Georgia guard, and, what orders or directions may 
have been given him since the information has been received at the 
executive department, if any.’ 

“In answer to this request I state, that no official information 
upon the subject has reached this department. The letter re- 
ceived from four Cherokees is all the information, official or un- 
official, which has been received, and was communicated to the 
senate on the day of the date of the above resolution. No ‘orders 
or directions’ have been given, because there were no facts made 


MEMORY OF 
JOHN HOWARD PAYNE 


Author 


of” 


‘WOME, SWEE 


MONUMENT TO JOHN HOWARD PAYNE. 
Erected by W. W. Cochran of Washington, D. C., in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 125 


known in the executive, upon which ‘orders or directions’ could 
be given in relation to matter, resting, as it did only in the com- 
mon street rumor of the day. 

“Arrangements have been made to ascertain the truth or false- 
hood of these reports; and so I have informed the senate in my 
communication of the 24th instant. 

“W.™M. Schley.” 


JOHN HOWARD PAYNE TO HIS SISTER. 


““Macon, Georgia, August 9,1885 
“My dear Sister: You find me much in arrears with you for 
letters; that is, I have only written you several to none, and there- 
fore, of course, you have reason to complain. But it is not too 
late to make atonement for my sins of omission. Here I am all 
alone in a strange place—Macon in Georgia—a good sized hand- 
somely built town nearly twelve years old, and with 4,000 inhab- 
tants. I arrived about eleven last night. I have no acquaintances 
here yet, so, for the sake of company, I will brush up my recollection 
of some of my adventures. I have been among the Indians for a 
few days lately. Shall I tell you about them? You make no 
answer and silence gives consent, so I will tell you about the In- 
dians. 

“The State of Alabama, you will remember, has been famous as 
the abode of the Creek Indians—always regarded as the most war- 
like of the Southern tribes. If you will look upon the map of 
Alabama, you will find on the west side of it, nearly parallel with 
the State of Mississippi, two rivers—one, the Coosa and the other 
Tallapoosa, which, descending, unite in the Alabama. Nearly 
opposite to these, about one hundred miles across, you will find 
another river, the Chattahoochee, which also descends, to form, 
with certain tributaries, the Apalachicola. It is within the space 
bounded by these rivers, and especially at the upper part of it, 
that the Creeks now retain a sort of sovereignty. The United 
States have in vain attempted to force the Creeks to volunteer a 
surrender of their soil for compensation. A famous chief among 
them made a treaty a few days ago to that effect; but the nation 
arose against him, surrounded his house, ordered his family out 
and bade him appear at the door, after all but he had departed. 
He did so. He was shot dead and the house burned. The 
treaty only took effect in part, if at all. Perpetual discontents 
have ensued. The United States have assumed a sort of juris- 
diction over the territory, leaving the Creeks unmolested in their 
national habits, their property—with this exception in their favor, 
beyond all other tribes, but the Cherokees—they have the right 
if they wish to sell, to sell to individuals at their own prices, but 
are not bound to treat with the republic at a settled rate, which 
last mode of doing business they rather properly looked upon as 
giving them the appearance of a vanquished race and subject to 
the dictation of conquerors. So, what the diplomatists could not 
achieve, was forthwith attempted by speculators, and among these 


126 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the everlasting Yankee began to appear and the Indianindependence 
straightway began to disappear. Certain forms were required by 
government to give Americans a claim to these Creek lands. The 
purchaser was to bring the Indians before a government agent; 
in the agent’s presence the Indian was to declare what his possess- 
ions were and for how much he would sell them. The money was 
paid in the presence of the agent, who gave a certificate, which, 
when countersigned by the president, authorized the purchaser to 
demand protection from the national arms, if molested. All this — 
was well enough; but it was soon discovered that the speculators 
would hire drunken and miscreant Indians to personate the real 
possessor of the lands, and having paid them the money, they 
would take it back as soon as the purchase was completed, give the 
Indian a jug of whiskey or a small bag of silver for the fraud, and 
so became lords of the soil. Great dissatisfaction arose and lives 
were lost. An anonymous letter opened the eyes of the govern- 
ment. The white speculators were so desparate and dangerous 
that any other mode of information was unsafe. Investigators 
were appointed to examine into the validity of Creek sales, and 
the examiners met at the time I went to see the Indian festival. 
It was necessary for me to be thus prolix to make you understand 
the nature of the society and a sort of danger by which we were 
surrounded; on the one side, white rogues—border cut-throats con- 
tending, through corrupted Indians, for the possessions of those 
among them who are honest and unwary. The cheated Indian, 
wheedled by some other white cheat into a proinise to sell, payable 
in over-charged goods, at a higher price, to the one who should ex- 
pose the fraud—and, when the decision was reversed in favori of 
the pretended friend, the foiled thief flying at the over-reaching 
one with fist and knife, and both in good luck if either could | ve 
to see what both had stolen. I beheld a fine, gentle, innocent- 
looking girl—a widow, I believe, come up to the investigator to 
to assert that she had never sold her land, She had been counter- 
feited by some knave. ‘The investigator’s court was a low tavern 
bar-room. He saw me eyeing him and some one had told him I 
was traveling to take notes. He did not know but government 
had employed me as a secret supervisor. He seemed to shrink 
and postponed the decision. I have since heard that he is as great 
arascalasthe rest. This illstarred race is entirely at the mercy of 
interpreters, who, if not negro slaves of their own, are half breeds, 
who are generally worse than the worst of either slaves or knaves. 
“In the jargon of the border, they call them linkisters; some say, 
because they, by interpreting, form the link between the nations; 
but I should think the word a mere corruption of linguist. The 
Indians become more easily deluded by the borderers than others, 
because the borderers know that they have no idea of any one be- 
ing substantial, who does not keep a shop; your rascal of the frontier 
sets up a shop and is pronounced a sneezer—if his shop be large, 
he is a sneezerchubco—if larger than any other, he is a sneezer- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 127 


chubco-mico; but in any of his qualities, sneezer is always consider- 
ed as a personage by no means to be sneezed at. The sneezer 
will pay for the land in goods, and thinks himself very honest, if 
he charges his goods at five hundred times their worth, and can 
make it appear by his account against the Indian’s claim, that he 
has paid him thousands of dollars, when, in fact, he may scarcely 
have paid him hundreds of cents. 


THE GREEN CORN DANCE 


“Well, now for the festival. 

“When the green corn ripens, the Creeks seem to begin their 
year. Until after certain religious rites, it is considered an infamy 
to touch the corn. The season approaching, there is a meeting of 
the chiefs of all the towns forming any particular clan. First, an 
order is given out for the manufacture of certain articles of pottery 
for a part of their festival. A second meeting gives out a second 
order. New matting is.to be prepared for the seats of the assem- 
bly. Thereisathird meeting. A vast number of sticks are broken 
into as many parts as there are days intervening previous to the one 
appointed for the gathering of the clan. Runners are sent with 
these, made into bundles for each clansman. One is flung aside 
each day and every one is punctually on the last day at the appoint- 
ed rendezvous. I must now mention the place where they assemble. 

“It is a large square, with four large, long houses, one forming 
each side of the square, at each angle, a broad entrance to the 
area. These houses are of clay and a sort of wicker work, with 
sharp-topped sloping roofs like those of our log houses, but more 
thoroughly finished. A space is left open all around at the back 
and sides of each house, to afford a free circulation of air; this 
opening came about up to my chin and enables one to peep in on 
all sides. The part of the house fronting the square, is entirely 
open. It cosists of one broad raised platform, a little more than 
knee-high, and curved and inclined so as to make a most comfort- 
able place for either sitting or reclining. Over this is wrought the 
cane matting, which extends from the back to the ground in front. 
At each angle of the square, there is a broad entrance. Back of 
one angle is a high, cone-roofed building, circular and dark, with 
a sloping entrance through a low door. It was so dark that I 
could not make out the interior, but some one said it was a council- 
house. It occupied one corner of an outer square next to the one 
I have described; two sides of which outer squares were formed by 
thick and tall corn-fields, and a third by a raised embankment 
apparently for spectators, and a fourth by the back of one of the 
buildings before described. In the center was a considerably high 
circular mound. ‘This, it seems, was formed from the earth accum- 
ulated yearly by removing the surface of the sacred square, to this 
centre of the outer one. At every Green-corn festival the sacred 
square is strewn with soil yet untrodden; the soil of the year pre- 
ceding being taken away, but preserved, asl explain. No strang- 


128 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


er’s foot is allowed to press the new earth of the sacred square 
until its consecration is complete. A gentleman told me that he 
and a friend had chanced once to walk through, along the edge, 
just after new soil was laid. A friendly chief saw him and re- 
monstrated and seemed greatly incensed. He explained that it 
was done in ignorance. The chief was pacified, but ordered every 
trace of the unhallowed steps to be uptorn and fresh covering in 
the place. 

“The sacred square being ready, every fire in the towns depend- 
ent on the chief of the clan is, at the same moment extinguished. 
Every house must, at that moment, have been newly swept and 
washed. Enmities are forgotten. If a person under a sentence 
for crime can steal in unobserved, and appear among the worship- 
pers, his crime is no more remembered. ‘The first ceremony is to 
light the new fire of the year. A square is brought with a small 
circular hollow in the centre. It receives the dust of a forest tree 
of dry leaves. Five chiefs take turns to whirl the stick, until the 
friction produces a flame. From this sticks are lighted and con- 
veyed to every house of the clan. The original flame is taken to 
the centre of the sacred square. Wood is heaped there and a strong 
fire lighted. Over this fire, the holy urns of new made pottery are 
placed; drinking gourds, with long handles, are set around on a 
bench, officers are over the whole in attendance, and here, what 
they call the black drink, is brewed with many forms and with in- - 
tense solemnity. 

“T cannot describe to you my feelings as I first found myself in 
the Indian country. We rode miles after miles in the native forest, 
neither habitation nor inhabitants to disturb the solitude and ma- 
jesty of the wilderness. At length we met a native in his native 
land. He was galloping on horseback. His air was oriental; he 
had a turban, a robe of fringed and gaudily figured calico, scarlet 
leggings, and beaded belts and garters and pouch. We asked how 
far it was to the square. He held up a finger and we understood him 
to mean one mile. Next, we met two Indian women on horseback, 
loaded with water-melons. We bought some. In answer to our 
question of the road, they half covered a finger to say it was half a 
mile further, and, smiling, added ‘“‘ sneezer-much’’—meaning that 
we should find lots of our brethren, the sneezers, to keep us company. 

‘“‘We passed groups of Indian horse’ tied in the shade, with cords 
long enough to let them graze freely; we then saw the American 
flag ( a gift from the government) floating over one of the hut-tops 
in the square; we next passed groups of Indian horses and carriages 
and servants, and under the heels of one horse, a drunken vagabond 
Indian asleep, or half asleep; and at length we got to the corner of 
the square, where they were in the midst of their devotions. I stood 
upon a mound at the corner angle to look in. I was told that this 
mound was composed of ashes from such fires as were now blaz- 
ing in the centre, during many preceding years; and that these ashes 
are never permitted to be scattered, but must thus be gathered up, 
and carefully and religiously preserved. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 129 


“Before the solemnities begin, and, I believe, ere the new earth 
is placed, the women dance in the sacred square. The preliminary 
dance of theirs is by themselves; I missed this. They seperat: from 
the men and remain apart from them, until after the fasting and 
other religious forms are gone through. 

“On my arrival, the sacred square, as I gazed from the corner 
mound, presented a most striking sight. Upon each of the notched 
posts, of which I have already spoken as attached to the houses of 
the sacred square, was a stack of tall cones, hung all over with 
feathers, black and white. There were rude paint-daubs about 
the posts and rooi-beams of the houses fronting on the square, 
and here and there they were festooned with ground-vines. Chieis 
were standing around the sides and corners along and opposite to 
each other, their eyes riveted on the earth and motionless as 
statues. Every building within was filled with crowds of silent 
Indians, those on the back rows seated in the Turkish fashion, but 
those in front with their feet to the ground. Ail were turbaned, all 
fantastically painted; all in dresses varying in ornament, but alike 
in wildness. One chief wore a tall black hat, with a broad, massy 
silver band around it, and a peacock’s feather; another had a 
silver skull-cap, with a deep, silver bullion fringe down to his eye- 
brows; and plates of silver from his knee, descending his tunic. 
Most of them had the eagle-plume which only those may wear who 
have slain a foe; a number wore military plumes in various positions 
about their turbans; and one had a tremendous tuit of black feath- 
ers declining from the back of his head, over his back; while 
another's head was all shaven smooth, excepting a tuft across the 
centre from the back to the front, like the crest of a helmet. I 
never saw an assembly more absorbed with what they regarded as 
the solemnities of the occasion. 

“The first sounds I heard was a strange, low, deep wail—a 
sound of many voices, drawn out in perfect unison, and only dying 
away with the breath itself, which, indeed, was longer sustained 
than could be done by any singer whom I ever yet heard. This was 
followed by a second wail in the same style, but shrill, like the 
sound of musical glasses, and giving the same shiver to the nerves. 
And after a third wail, in another key, the statue-like figures 
moved and from two diagonal lines opposite to each other, their 
backs to opposite angles of the square. One by one, they then 
approached the huge bowls in which the black drink was boiling, 
and in rotation dipped a gourd, and took with a most reverential 
expression a long, deep draught each. The next part of the cere- 
mony with each was somewhat curious, but the rapt expression of 
the worshippers and the utter absence of anything to give a dis- 
agreeable air to the act, took away the effect it may produce even 
in description. By some knack, without moving a muscle of the 
face, nor joint, they moved about like strange spectres, more than 
human beings. But soon the character of the entertainment chang- 
ed, and I more particularly observed two circular plates of brass 


9 


130 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE History 


and steel, which appeared to be the remains of very antique 
shields. They were borne with great reverence, by two chiefs. 
The nation do not pretend to explain whence they came, they keep 
them apart, as something sacred; they are only produced on great 
occasions. I was told, too, that ears of green corn were brought 
in at a part of the ceremony today which I did not see, and pre- 
sented to a chief. He took them, handed them back with an in- 
vocation that corn might continue plenty through the year among 
them. ‘This seemed to be the termination of the peace-offerings, 
and the religious part of the affair was now to wind up with em- 
blems of war. ‘These were expressed in what they call a Gun 
Dance. When dispositions were making for it, some persons in 
carriages, were desired by white likister to draw back, and to re- 
move their horses toa distance. Some ladies especially were warn- 
ed. ‘Keep out of the way, Ma’rm,’ said the likister to a lady, 
‘for when they come racing about here with their guns, they gits 
powerful sarcy.’ I saw them dressing for the ceremony, if it may 
be called dressing to throw off nearly every part of a scanty cover- 
ing. But the Indians are especially devoted to dress in their way. 
Some of them went aside to vary their costume with nearly every 
dance. 

‘‘Now appeared a procession of some forty or fifty women. They 
entered the square and took their seats together, in one of the 
open houses. ‘Two men sat in front of them, with gourds filled 
with pebbles. The gourds were shaken so as to keep time, and the 
women began a long chant, with which, at regular intervals, was 
given a sharp, short whoop, from male voices. The women’s 
song was said to be intended for the wail of mothers, wives and 
daughters, at the departure of the warriors for the fight; the re- 
sponse conveyed the resolution of the warriors not to be withheld, 
but to fight and conquer. And now appeared two hidious-look- 
ing old warriors, with tomahawks and scalping knives, painted 
most ferociously. Each went half round the circle, exchanged ex- 
clamations, kept up a sort of growl all the while, and at length 
stopped with a war-whoop. We were now told to hurry to the 
outer square. ‘The females and their male leaders left their place 
inside, and went to the mound in the centre of the outer square. 
This mound their forms entirely covered, and the effect was very 
imposing. Here they resumed their chant. The spectators 
mounted on the embankment. I got on a pile of wood, holy wood, 
I believe, and heaped there to keep up the sacred fires. There were 
numbers of Indian women in the crowd. Four stuffed figures 
were placed erect, in the four corners of the square. 

‘We now heard firing and whooping on all sides. At length 
in the high corn on one side we saw crouching savages, some with 
guns of every sort, some, especially the boys, with cornstalks to 
represent guns. A naked chief with a long sabre, the blade painted 
blood-color, came before them, flourishing his weapon and har-— 
anging vehemently. In another cornfield, appeared another 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 131 


party. The two savages already mentioned as having given the 
war dance in the sacred square, now hove in sight, on a third side, 
cowering. One of these, I understood, was the person who shot the 
chief I mentioned in the first part of this letter, the chief who made 
an objectionable treaty, and whose house was burned. Both 
these warriors crept slyly towards the outer square; one darted 
upon one of the puppets, caught him from behind, and stole him 
off. Another grasped another puppet by the waist, flung him in 
the air, as he fell, tumbled on him, ripped him with his knife, tore 
off the scalp and broke away in triumph. A third puppet was 
tomahawked and a fourth shot. These were the emblems of the 
various forms of warfare. After the first shot, the two parties 
whooped, and began to fire indiscriminately, and every shot was 
answered bya whoop. One shot his arrow into the square, but fall- 
ing short of the enemy, he covered himself with corn and crept 
thither to regain it and bore it back in safety, honored with a 
triumphant yell as he returned. After much of this brush-skir- 
mishing, both parties burst into the square. There was constant 
firing and war-whooping, the music of chanting and of the pebbled 
gourd going all the time. At length the fighters joined in pro- 
cession, dancing a triumphal dance around the mound, plunging 
thence headlong into the sacred square and all around it, and 
then scampering around the outside and pouring back to the 
battle-square; and the closing whoop being given, all then from the 
battle-square rushed helter-skelter, yelping, some firing as they 
went and others pelting the spectators from their high places with 
the corn stalks which had served for guns, and which gave blows 
so powerful that those who laughed at their impotence before, 
rubbed their shoulders and walked away ashamed. We resumed 
our conveyances homeward and as we departed, heard the splashing 
and shouting of the warriors in the water. Leave was now given 
to taste the corn, and all ate their fill, and, I suppose, did not 
much refrain from drinking, for I heard that every pathway and 
field around was strewed in the morning with sleeping Indians. 

“We passed the next day in visiting the picturesque scenery of 
the neighborhood. We saw the fine falls of the Tallapoosa, where 
the water tumbles over wild and fantastic precipices, varying from 
forty to eighty or a hundred feet; and, when wandering over the 
rocks, passed an old Indian with his wife and child, and bow and 
arrows. They had been shooting fishes in the stream, from a point 
against which the fishes were brought to them by the current. 
The scenery and the natives would have made a fine picture. 
An artist in the neighborhood made me a present of a picture of 
these falls, which I can show you when we meet. 

“The next part of the festival consisted, as I was told, in the - 
wives urging out their husbands to hunt deer. We went down to 
the square towards night. We met Indians with deers slung over 
their horses. The skin is given to a priest, who flings it back to the 
young man who gave it the first shot, to retain as a trophy; and at 


132 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRy 


the same time asks from the great Spirit that this may be only the 
harbinger of deer in abundance, whenever wanted. There was 
some slight dancing in the evening; but all were reserving them- 
selves for the winding-up assembly of the ladies on Sunday morn- 
ing. Some of our party remained after I left. They found a mis- 
cellaneous dance at a house in the vicinty, negroes, borderers, 
and reprobate Indians, all assembled in one incongruous mass. 
A vagabond frontier man asked a girl to dance. She refused, and 
was going to dance with another. He drew his pistol and swore, 
if she would not dance with him, she should not dance at all. 
Twenty pistols were clicked in an instant, but the borderer swore 
there was not a soul who dared against him to draw a trigger. 
He was right; for the pistols were dropped and the room cleared 
in an instant, whereupon he clapped his wings and crowed and 
disappeared. 

“The assemblage of the females I was rather anxious to see, 
and so I was at my post very early. I had long to wait. I heard 
the fathering cry from the men on all sides in the corn fields and 
bushes; it was like the neighing to each other of wild horses. After 
awhile, the ladies began to arrive. The spectators crowded in. 
The Indian men went to their places; and among them a party to 
sing while the women danced; two of the men rattling the gourds. | 
The cauldrons had disappeared from the centre of. the sacred 
square. 

“And now entered a long train of females, all dressed in long 
gawns, like our ladies, but all with gay colors and bright shawls 
of various hues, beads innumerable upon their necks and tortoise- 
shell combs in their hair; ears bored all around the rim, from top to 
bottom, and from every bore a massy eardrop, very long, and 
generally of silver. A selected number of dancers wore under their 
robes, and girded upon their calves, large squares of thick leather, 
covered all over with terrapin shells, closed together and perforated, 
and filled with pebbles, which rattled like so many sleigh bells. 
These they have the knack of keeping silent, until their accompan- 
iment is required for the music of the dance. ‘The dresses of all 
the women were so long as nearly to conceal the feet, but I saw 
some had no shoes nor stockings, while others were sandaled. 
The shawls were principally worn like mantles. Broad ribbons, 
in great profusion and of every variety of hue, hung from the 
back of each head to the ground, and, as they moved, these and the 
innumerable sparkling beads of glass and coral and gold, gave the 
wearers an air of graceful and gorgeous, and at the same time 
seen wildness. 


‘The procession entered slowly, and wound around the central 
fire, which, although the cauldrons were removed, burned gently, 
and the train continued to stretch itself out, until it extended to 
three circles and a half; the shorter side then became stationary 
and kept facing the men seated in that building which contained - 
the chanters; and in this line of dancers seemed the principal 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 133 


wearers of the terrapin shell leg-bands. These make their rat- 
tles keep time with the chant. Two leaders at each end of the 
line (one of them an old woman and the other not so young), had 
each a little notched stick with two feathers floating from them. 
At a particular turn of the dance, they broke off, and went the out- 
side round alone and more rapidly than the rest. The body of 
the dancers slowly proceeded round and round, only turning at a 
given signal to face the men, as the men had turned to face the 
emblem of the Deity, the central fire. Every eye among the 
women was planted on the ground, I never beheld such an air of 
universal modesty, it seemed a part of the old men’s privilege to 
make comments aloud, in order to surprise the women into a 
laugh. These must often have been very droll and always personal, 
I understand, and not always the most delicate. I saw a few 
instances among the young girls where they were obliged to smother 
a smile by putting up their handkerchiefs. But it was conquered 
on the instant. The young men said nothing, but the Indian 
men all seemed to take as much interest in the show as we. The 
chief, Apotheola, had two daughters there. Both were very 
elegant girls, but the eldest delighted me exceedingly. She seemed 
about seventeen or eighteen; she is tall and of a fine figure. Her 
carriage is graceful and elegant and quite European. She had a 
white muslin gown, a small black scarf embroidered with flowers 
in brilliant colors, and embroidered white collarette (I believe 
you call it), gold chains, coral beads, gold and jeweled ear-rings, 
(single ones not in the usual Indian super-abundance) her hair 
beautifully dressed in the Parisian style, and a splendid tortoise 
shell comb, gemmed, and from one large tuft of hair upon one 
temple to that upon the other, there passed a beautiful gold orna- 
ment. Her sister’s head-dress was nearly the same. The elder 
princess, Apotheola, I am happy to say, looked only at me. Some 
one must have told her that I meant to run away with her, for I 
had so said before I saw her, to many of her friends. There was 
a very frolicsome, quizzical expression in her eyes; and now and 
then it seemed to say, ‘No doubt you think all these things very 
droll; it diverts me to see you so puzzled by them.’ But, excepting 
the look at me (which only proved her taste), her eye dwelt on the 
ground, and nothing could be more interestingly reserved than 
her whole deportment. The dance was over, all the ladies went 
from the square in the same order that they entered it. In about 
an hour, it was repeated, and after that, signal was made for what 
they call the dance of the olden time, the breaking up of the cere- 
monial, when the men and women are again allowed to intermingle. 
This was done in a quick dance around and around again, all the 
men yelping wildly and merrily as struck their fancy, and generally 
in tones intended to set the women laughing, which they did and 
heartily. The sounds most resembled the yelpings of delighted 
dogs. Finally came the concluding whoop, and all the parties 
separated. ; 


134 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Between these two last dances, I sent for a chief, and desired 
him to take charge of some slight gifts of tobacco and beads which 
I had brought for them. The chief took them. I saw the others 
cut the tobacco, and share it. Ere long my ambassdor returned 
saying, the chiefs are mighty glad and count it from you very 
great friendship. I had been too bashful about my present. If 
I had sent it before, I might have seen the show to more advantage. 
As it was, I was now invited to sit inside of the square, and witness- 
ed the last dance from one of the places of honor. But I was 
obliged to depart at once, and give up all hopes of ever again seeing 
my beautiful princess Apotheola. My only chance of a guide 
through the wilderness would have been lost, had I delayed. I 
reluctantly mounted my pony and left the Indians of Tuckabatchie 
and their Green-corn festival and their beautiful princess Apoth- 
eola. 

“It was a great gratification to me to have seen this festival; 
with my own eyes to have witnessed the Indians in their own 
nation; with my own ears to have heard them in their own lan- 
guage; nor was it any diminution of the interest of the spectacle 
to reflect that this ceremoney, so precious to them, was now prob- 
ably performing in the land of their fore-fathers for the last, 
time. I never beheld more intense devotion; the spirit of the 
forms was a sight, and a religious one: It was beginning the year 
with fasting, with humility, with purification, with prayer, with 
gratitude; it was burying animosities, while it was strengthening 
courage; it was pausing to give thanks to Heaven before daring to 
partake its beneficence. It was strange to see, this, too, in the 
midst of my own land; to travel, in the course of a regular journey, 
in the new world, among the living evidences of one, it may be, 
older than what we call the old world; the religion and the people 
and the associations of the untraceable part, in the very heart of 
the most recent portion of the most recent people upon earth. 
And it was a melancholy reflection to know that these stranger 
people were rapidly becoming extinct, and that, too, without a pro- 
per investigation into their hidden past, which would perhaps 
unfold to man the most remarkable of all human histories.” 


“¢78| Ul o1ay pauile}iejue seem eNeAR4e] “SEB] Ul IINged pue,pes! U! peuung ‘6181 UI I]INg sem esnoy S14} Jo e}eo!|dnp Vy 
“S9DVLIANYSH JHL AO M3IA LNOYS 


Poe Taped’, Migs it A 2yrer ne 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 135 


ror oeorSe 
oo 52 
e CHAPTER 7. a 
Ta oA 
& Letters beginning in 1808 from and to z 
ed Andrew Jackson. a 
a 


THE JACKSON LETTERS AND KINDRED DOCUMENTS IN THE 
CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C.—LETTERS 
FROM AND TO JACKSON 


On September 26, 1921, the Manuscript Division of the Con- 
gressional Library, Washington, D. C., gave the following state- 
ment in reference to the Jackson papers in the Library: 

“There are 150 volumes in the Jackson Collection comprising 
40,000 folio sheets of manuscript by general estimate. 

“In addition to the above there are from 800 to 1,000 letters 
and papers in the Andrew Jackson-Donelson collection. 

“The 5,000 letters referred to in Mr. Heiskell’s letter (written 
heretofore) are letters written by Jackson. There are from 3 to 
5 letters to Jackson for every letter from Jackson.” 

Jackson’s tremendous labor in writing letters can be more fully 
appreciated when it is considered that stenographers and type- 
writers were not used and typewriters were even unknown. All 
writing was in longhand and Jackson’s letters at this day would be 
considered long—unnecessarily long. But long letters then was 
the order of the day. More than one person wrote letters for 
Jackson on his dictation. His letters in his own writing are gen- 
erally hard to read and sometimes illegible. Some of the letters 
in this volume in his hand were copied for the author by photostat 
by copyists in the Manuscript division of the Congressional Library 
and make difficult reading and some of it impossible. 

A complete publication in book form of the entire Jackson and 
kindred collections in the Congressional Library, documents and 
letters from and to Jackson and directly connected with him, would 
make a great publishing undertaking, of many volumes. 

The author at one time considered the idea of publishing all 
of Jackson’s own letters, but 5,000 letters would bea great under- 
taking in themselves, to say nothing of explanatory notes and 
references that would be necessary for some of them; so the idea 
was abandoned and this volume substituted. The author is in- 
formed that the Carnegie Foundation of New York has retained 
Mr. John Spencer Basset to make a complete collection and pub- 
lication in 10 volumes of all of Jackson’s letters and state papers. 
This would be the last word in Jacksonian history. Such an un- 


136 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


dertaking, carefully and successfully carried out, would make an 
incalculably valuable use of a part of the millions left behind by 
the great Scotch Iron King. 

In writing to his friends Jackson was one of the frankest of men. 
In fact frankness in letters was just as habitual with him as frank- 
ness in speech, and it is doubtful if he ever concealed his views to 
any extent whatever on any subject in which the public had an 
interest. Jackson shows to fine advantage in his letters in not 
only his frankness, but in that old-fashioned high bred courtesy 
that exhibits one of the most attractive phases of his character. 
That courtesy and his unfailing recognition of a higher power 
directing and governing the destinies of man, are two curious 
concomitants in the make-up of a man to whom history has attributed 
such war-like and violent proclivities; and they justify, together 
with his perfect home life, the statement made elsewhere in this 
work that there were two Jacksons of radically contrasting at- 
tributes. 


S. WILLIAMS TO JACKSON. \ 


“Carthage, April 25, 1808. 
“Dear Sir: 


“Since you left here politics have ceased and the greatest 
harmony imaginable pervades all ranks. The only two converts 
you made while here have retrograded, or in other words they say 
that they only supported Monroe out of politeness to you because 
that you were a stranger, and I can assure you Sir without you or 
some other friend of Monroe’s return to this quarter, he will have 
but few friends. At present I know of none nor do I suspect but 
one. 
“T know that you have been at considerable trouble and ex- 
pense in electioneering for him and I though it a duty that I owe 
you from our long and friendly acquaintance to inform you that 
any further exertion in his favor will be lost, for your friend cannot 
come in this heat. 

“Vour friend Fite says that he cannot stand alone and at 
present he does not know who he shall support for Elector, and 
without James Lyon declares unequivocally in favor of Madison, 
he shall not vote for him: but let the presidential election term1- 
nate as it may, my friendship for you is the same it ever. was and 
will not cease until I have reasons to change my present opinion. 
You know caucasing is necessary on extraordinery occasions. 
At all events my sincere wish is that the best man may be elected 
and if I should be mistaken in my choice and hereafter be con- 
vinced as I heretofore have been I shall acknowledge my error and 
repent for the injury done my Country and try to repair it on 
some future occasion, which is all I think that is required of sin- 
ners. But I hope that we shall get all right after a while. 

“Accept Sir the Assurances of my Esteem and believe me to 
be a true Republican of 76. “S. WILLIAMS.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsTory 137 


JACKSON TO GOV. WM. BLOUNT. 


“Camp Jackson, March 15, 1813 
“Dear Sir: 


“T had on yesterday my feelings more awakened than I have 
ever had before. It was on the receipt of the enclosed extraordi- 
nary Order from the Secretary of War ordering the dismissal of 
the Detachment under my Command. 


“The Order was addressed to me at the city of New Orleans, 
presuming that I had marched my Detachment there according to 
your order. What do you think of the justice of Government to 
make a requisition of so many men, have them assembled in an 
inclement season, and marched more than a thousand miles amidst 
ice and snow and the dangers of the river, and then desert them 
without making provision for their return? 


“Would you be willing for those brave and patriotic men, 
whom I have the honour to command, to be deserted in a strange 
and inhospitable country, where there are no resources to support 
them and where they would be a prey to the diseases of this un- 
wholsome climate ? 


“The measures of government are dictated by policy more 
than generous motives. If our brave countrymen had been dis- 
charged here, there would have been a fine harvest for petty re- 
cruiting officers to have taken advantage of their necessities, which 
would constrain them to enlist, in order to get the means of sub- 
sistence. 


“Tf we have not rendered the Government any important ser- 
vices, it was their own fault in not pointing out an object for us. 
We have shewn our willing dispositions to serve them, by making 
many sacrafices of our domestic comforts. Yet they abandon us 
in a strange country, and have ordered us to be divested of all 
public property. There is no reservation not even a tent for the 
canopy of a sick man’s bed. 


“T have, however, from the necessity of the case determined 
to keep some of the tents and.to march the men home in as good 
order as possible, and I will make every sacrafice to add to their 
comfort. I have required of the contractor here twenty days 
rations which take my men to Colberts, and I must trustin Proy- 
idence and your exertions to furnish them with supplies from there 
to Nashville. If I fail in those, there is one alternative left which 
altho’ it might alarm those who are enjoying plenty and comfort 
at home, yet it will be resorted to by soldiers who think that their 
country is not grateful, and who are pinching under lean gripe of 
hunger. Provisions I must have and hope you will save me from 
the unpleasant necessity of procuring them Vi et Armis. 

“Will you be good enough to concert measures with the con- 
tractor and Ass. Dep. Qr. Master about furnishing supplies suf- 
ficient for our march from Colberts to Nashville. 


138 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Arrangements will also have to be made for: the payment of 
my troops when they arrive at Nashville. 

“T have the honour to be with sentiments of very friendly es- 
teem Yr. Ob. Servt. 


“Andrew Jackson.” 


JACKSON TO GOV. HOLMES. 


“Nashville, April 24, 1813. 
“Dear Sir: 

‘““‘When I marched from your territory I did intend to keep you 
duly notified of my progress, but the want of candles in the night 
and the attention to the sick in the day, prevented me, and the 
only letter I was able to write you was from the Tennessee advising 
you of my arival at that place, meeting supplies, and that I would 
return your tents in the hands of the Inft., so liberally and hu- 
manely furnished for a covering to my sick. I have now the pleas- 
ure to inform you that on the evening of the 19th I reached Colum- 
bia, there meeting Major Hynes who I had sent on and finding from 
him that there was no orders from government for the payment of 
my troops, I there halted on the 20th and discharged the 2nd. Regt. 
of Infantry and part of the first, on the 21st proceed with the 
residue and reach Nashville on the 22d instant (a distance of 45 
miles) and on that day discharged the residue of the Infantry and 
the guards, and on this day to meet the cavalry 9 miles distant 
and muster and discharge them. I have the pleasure to inform 
you, that this moment I have recd. advices from the war depart- 
ment which goes to shew that if we were for a.moment neglected 
by the government, we were not forgotten and that the return 
of my detachment to Tennessee, as I have marched them fully, 
meets the wishes of government, they are directed to be paid and 
all expenses of the return march. ‘This will surprise your D. Q. 
Master and astonish the, officer who ordered recruiting officers 
to my encampment to enlist my brave fellows, then in the service, 
of their country. Inclosed you will find the wagoner’s receipt 
for the tents returned by him. ‘Those in the hands of the cavalry 
will be sent to you in good order by the first safe conveyence. 

‘ Be pleased to present me to Mr. Dangerfield and lady, Major 
Freeman, if with you, Capt Guildart, lady and family, including 
my friend Miss Stark, and accept for yourself, my best wishes. 

“Andrew Jackson 


MAJ. W. B. LEWIS TO GEN. JOHN COFFEE. 


“Nashville, Apl. 14th, 1813. 
“My dear friend: 

“Yours dated in Franklin has been recd. Your conjectures as 
to my not being authorized to furnish the cavalry with forage are 
well grounded. I cannot act unless it be from the instructions of 
Governor Blount, who, tho’ now absent, will be in this place within 
8 or 10 days, which will be time enough, in case he should authorize 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 139 


me, to furnish the supplies required; however, we will talk this 
business over more fully on your arrival here next week, until then 
believe me. 
“Vour very humble and most Obt. Servt. 
“W. B. Lewis. 
“Col. John Coffee.” 


JACKSON TO ROBERT ANDREWS, D. Q. M. G. 


“Nashville, July 12th, 1813. 
mite: 

“T have the pleasure to enclose a copy of an order to you from 
the Secretary of War of date the 14th of June, directing you to 
‘Settle and discharge the accounts for the transportation of the 
Tennessee Volunteers on their return march.’ 

“T have no doubt but you will obey this order, as you are now 
placed clear of any control of Col. Shomburgh; from your letters 
to me and from the information recd. from Col. Purdy I have 
cause to believe that you were disposed to have done right at first 
but you conceived you were under the immediate orders and control 
of Shomburgh. From the tenor of your orders you are the proper 
officer to pay the accounts (of the officers) for the transportation 
of the baggage of any detachment, and as you well know, trans- ' 
portation for their baggage was not furnished, you will point out 
to me what vouchers is necessary under the new regulations to 
authorize the officers to receive payment from you for the trans- 
_ portation of their baggage. 

“You will also have the goodness to point out to mie, the nec- 
essary vouchers upon which you will be authorized (under the 
new rules) to pay me for the forrage furnished to the 13 wagons 
and twenty-six pack horses employed in transporting the sick and 
the baggage of my detachment to the Tennessee river. I hope 
Sir as you refused to furnish the cash promised to the wagoners 
to lay in their supplies that no difficulty will arise in remunerating 
me for the cost advanced for forage for the teams and packhorses. 
You will please make this order public that all concerned may 
have notice to attend and receive payment. Upon the receipt 
of this I shall expect to receive your answer. 

“T am respectully Yr Obd. Servt.’ 

“Andrew Jackson.” 


JACKSON TO COL. ROBERT HAYS. 


“New Orleans, January 26, 1815. 
“Head Quarters 
“7 M. District 
“Dear Col.: 

“T have this moment recd. yours of the 17th. Am happy to find 
the ladies have started at last. I hope there will be no danger from 
a return of the enemy. You say you wish I would write often. 
Were you to see the business with which I am surrounded you would 


140 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


I know readily excuse me. I rejoice to hear of the health of our 
friends there and thank my God we have all escaped here although 
I do not enjoy good health at present. I thank you for your at- 
tention to my farm, and beg you to see it now and then. ‘Tell Knot 
to take care of my stock, my colts and lambs particularly. 

“TI inclose you a paper including my address and Genl. order 
to the troops since which, about eighty prisoners has been taken, 
who state that the total loss of the enemy amounts to six thousand 
five hundred, and Major General Kean has died of his wounds. 
It appears that the unerring hand of Providence shielded my men 
from the showers of balls, bombs and rocketts, when every ball 
and bomb from our guns carried with them the mission of death. 
Teil your good lady and family god bless them and give ay respects . 
toallfriends. Adieu. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
‘“‘(Addressed): Col. Robert Hays.”’ 


GEN. ANDREW HAYNES TO JACKSON. 


“Nashville, Oct. 24, 1815. 
“Dear Gen’1:- 

I have but a few days since returned from Kentucky, and while 
‘there I heard your name often mentioned most respectfully, vet 
there are some who still pretend to be dissatisfied, because the 
same need of praise was not bestowed on the Kentuckians as was 
on the Troops of Tennessee. The portion of the discontented are 
so small that they form but a few black specks in the mass of the 
people. 

“T was in Lexington when the Hon. Henry Clay arrived. There 
was great joy manifested on the occasion. His return was greeted 
by the most kindly welcome. 

“On my return, I stayed all night at Gen. Adair’s and he really 
appears very well disposed towards you. He spoke of you in an 
anxious manner, and said that he had but little doubt with the 
proper management of your friends, that you might be elevated to 
' the highest office in the American Government. 

“T do not know your sentiments or disposition on the occasion 
and I know your delicacy will not permit you to speak or write 
about it. Yet if the people of the United States should wish it 
you no doubt will acquiese. 

“Not only Gen. Adair, but many others of Kentucky are anxious 
for your elevation among whom are many of my friends at Bards- 
town. Yet I am sorry to say that the Representative from that 
place, Mr. Benj. Hardin, possesses such a cynical turn that he 
delights to find fault with everybody. You may however get 
acquainted with him, and a few social jokes or a little familiar 
conversation will make him very friendly. 

“T rec. not long since the enclosed letter from Mr. Fletcher. 
It is confidential and the information therein contained you can 
use as you think proper. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLY TENNESSEE History 141 


“So soon as Mr. Worsley’s disposition towards you is ascertain- 
ed, perhaps some of your friends in this quarter may furnish the 
Reporter something on the above subject, which shall be published 
as coming from a citizen of Kentucky. 

“Whatever may be the present sentiments of the people of 
America, I will venture to pronounce they will be entirely swayed 
by the nomination of the Caucus of Members of Congress at Wash- 
ington and the broad field of Elective prerogative will be reduced 
down to the capricious opinions of a few men. 

“T hope you will give a hearty response to all the kind attentions 
which may be paid you by members of congress. Altho’ they 
may not be great men, yet they have power in the Nation. 

“T have many friends in Baltimore and Philadelphia and I 
have understood several of them are of the same sentiments of 
Mr. Carswell, but not having seen them personally for about 
two years I can hardly know their dispositions. 

“Will you be good enough to call on those gentlemen to whom 
the enclosed letters are addressed, Macdonald & Ridgeley and 
Luke Turnan & Co (eminent merchants) and let yourself be known 
to them. They are my particular friends and they are popular 
merchants. 

“Should Mrs. Jackson be willing to spend a retired hour in the 
company of a plain quaker woman whom she will find an affec- 
tionate friend, I hope she will call on Mrs. Catherine Smith, and 
for that purpose I have given you a lettr to her husband, Matthew 
Smith. I only mention those two last as displaying the greatest 
simplicity of manners, which you may contrast with the gay ex- 
travagance which will surround you at other places. They are 
not considered among the fashionables and as the rich and the gay 
will be emulous to entertain you, you may not be doing right to 
mingle with the humble. Permit me to remark that Mr. Turnan 
is a Catholic and has great weight among that people and by his 
wealth and sterling integrity is universally esteemed. MacDonald 
& Ridgeley are popular with the Irish and have long been and 
are now the most particular friends of Maj. Jas Smiley of Bards- 
town. 

“I will probably have it in my power to pay you and Mrs. 
Jackson a visit during your tour in the north this winter. 

“T am respectfully Yr. friend, 

“‘And. Haynes.’ 


GEN. ANTHONY BUTLER TO JACKSON. 


“Clarksville, Nov. 7, 1815. 
“My dear General :- 

“Upon my arrivalat Russelville I met with your letter in reply 
to mine written you from Limestone: I regret it was not in my 
power to have seen you before you left home; the subject I wished 
to converse upon was no less important than who should be the 
next President? On my way through Pennsylvania and Virginia 


142. ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 


I had numerous conversations with persons of the first consid- 
eration both for their talents and their standing in the community, 
and I found a strong disposition manifested to run your name for 
the Presidency. In those conversations some of which were held 
with members of congress, I heard no dissenting voice: to com- 
municate these facts, was one object of the interview requested. 
And one other object (and not the least important with me), 
was to use whatever influence I could have with you to induce you 
to stand a candidate if solicited to do so whilst you were at Wash- 
ington City. Upon this subject I have no doubt that I entertain 
and indulge that interest which a sincere regard for the individual 
concerned will always excite in an ardent and honest mind, and 
that under such circumstances the partialities of private friend- 
ship have their weight. Yet I am equally certain that the para- 
mount motive in this case is my country’s welfare to which all 
other considerations will be made to yield when an object so im- 
portant shall engage my attention. Our country for some time 
past, as you know, has been unfortunately under the dominion of 
men who altho’ extremely well fitted for the calm of peace were 
illy calculated to guide the affairs of the nation in war. The 
war we have just concluded, has to be sure, by a fortunate tho’ 
late selection of leaders terminated honorably and gloriously for 
our arms. Yet the conduct of that war taken as a whole, proves 
most strikingly the proposition I laid down of the unfitness to 
rule us in time of war, either by providing means, or an independent 
selection of instruments best calculated to secure success and cover 
the nation with glory. The state of affairs in Europe call upon us 
to be prepared for every emergency, and requires most especially 
that a man should be placed at the head of our government whose 
firmness and judgment in deciding on measures, and whose bold- 
ness in execution, would unite the nation around him. Every 
man in the U. S. looks to you as this individual and whatever might 
be your private wishes on this subject you would owe it to your 
county as a patriot not to refuse the station if offered to you. 
I have written you upon this topic lest my journey to the city 
should be so long delayed as to prevent me from offering the sug- 
gestions of my mind, untill the time was past. I feel no doubt 
that the affair will be mentioned to you very shortly after your 
arrival and if it be I pray you in the name of our country pause and 
weigh well the subject before you refuse the tender. Many va- 
cancies I learn are to be filled up in the peace establishment, if 
so, permit me to recommend to your patronage some young men 
ardently devoted to the profession of arms and who are an orna- 
ment to their country, but who for want of friends at court have 
been neglected for many less worthy. Captain Gray, late of the 
24th. Infantry (Anderson’s regiment), is a man of fine mind and 
ardent character. I pray you endeavour to have him a Captain. 
Ist. Lieutenant Thomas Edmondson, late of the 28th. Infantry, is 
also an intelligent, gallant, honorable man who would do credit 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 143 


to himself, and honor to the country. He would also be glad to 
remain in military life. In fine, should the peace establishment 
be augmented, and you can have me appointed with my former 
rank to any of the new regiments under your command, I would 
immediately accept. Write me the news of the Capitol and be- 
lieve me respectfully and truly your friend 

“A. Butler 
“Major Gen. Andrew Jackson, 
“Washington City. 


+ Mail.” 
“Chickasaw Agency, 
S Septsowlole. 
JACKSON TO COL. R. BUTLER. 
Be Site = 


“By Major Thos. L. Butler, I wrote you inclosing a letter to 
Genl. Coffee requesting certain papers to be forwarded. If 
papers requested are not already forwarded, you Must have them 
forwarded to Genl. Coffee, by expres at the earliest oppor- 
tunity. The council begins this day, & we Must have them 
as early as possible. These papers we find will be of the utmost im- 
portance. The Creek Chiefs not being here we Must have them 
in a few days. If all influence but the Native Indian was out of 
the way, would have but little trouble. But a letter from the Sec- 
retary of War to the agent, which had been recd. and read to the 
Naion in council before our arrival, has done Much Mischief, To 
counteract this will give as Much trouble, and makes the posses- 
sion of these papers promised by Genl. Coffee of the utmost im- 
portance. Mr. Bell etc. is now here. I delivered your mesage to 
him; he says he will comply with it. Tell Major Eaton I have 
Recd_ his letter will answer it in due time. But my whole time 
and thoughts are occupied finding out the wiles of the deceitful, 
to obtain if possible the object in view, and finally disappoint the 
would be President. 

“Say to Mrs. J. I am well, will write her when I have anything 
to communicate. I wish.Gen. Coffee was here. 

‘Tell my son to be a good boy and learn his books & give my 
affectionate good wishes to all. Adieu. 

“Andrew Jackson. 

“Col. Robert Butler, Adjt. Genl. of D. 


GEORGE POINDEXTER TO JACKSON. 


“WASHINGTON CITY, 
“DEC. 12, 1818. 
“My Dear General: 

“T owe you an apology for not having called on your lady, agree- 
ably to your friendly invitation. Mr. Graham and myself were 
both anxious to reach the end of our journey, and it was not until 
the 14th ultimo, that I arrived in this city. You have doubtless 


144 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HIsTorY 


seen the notice taken of the events of the Siminole war in the 
message of the President. So far as I am enabled to Judge it 
breathes a spirit of amity towards yourself. ‘The communication 
has been distributed in the usual manner, among a variety of select 
committees; but each of them seem desirous of casting off the 
burden and responsibility of this part of the message. The Mili- 
tary Committee allege that it belongs to our foreign relations, 
and the committee on foreign affairs deem the whole subject 
purely military. A motion was made the other day to obtain the 
sense of the House upon the conflicting duties of these comittees, 
which gave your Georgia friends an opportunity of showing the cloven 
foot. Mr. Cobb moved a special instruction to the committee to en- 
quire whether the Constitution and Laws of the United States and 
the Laws of Nations had not been violated. The House without 
understanding the force of the amendment adopted it, and then 
ordered the Resolution to lie on the table. The next norming, I 
went to the House prepared to move additional instructions to 
the committee which I take liberty of inclosing you. I however, 
thought it prudent, first to try the effect of a motion to postpone 
to a subsequent day the consideration of the subject, which on the 
suggestion of my friend, Doct Floyd of Virginia, was modified, so 
as to postpone it indefinitely. Some of your friends. were anxious 
to broach the discussion and give vent to the feelings which the 
conduct of a few members had excited, but I did not think the 
moment had arrived when such a discussion ought to be urged; I 
therefore persisted in the motion which was carried by a very large 
majority. You may rely on it there is a ‘‘back stairs’ influence 
exerted to induce the adoption of some measure by Congress which 
will have a tendency to withdraw from you the confidence and 
affection of the American people. I do not mean this hint to ex- 
tend to the President, for I am sure he is your friend, and if he was 
not he would scorn to descend to such mean contrivances by which 
to produce a result unfavorable to your fame. ‘Time will probably 
show who they are, you need not be surprised if you find among 
them some of your most enthusiastic flatterers. Certain individ- 
uals are on the alert to find on which side the current will set, that 
they may float down it, without encountering the hazard of ship- 
wreck. 

“Should either committee make a report calculated to implicate 
your feelings or reputation, you may be assured of the feeble aid 
which my best exertions can afford you. And I feel confident 
that you will be supported by Congress and the Nation. When 
I last saw you something was said concerning, a massacre which 
had been committed on the Tombigbee, of an innocent family, 
headed by the Alabama chief who was taken to the Havanna. Will 
you be so good as to give me the particulars, when you have a 
moment of leisure? I am anxious to lay this whole matter fairly 
before the American people and the world. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 145 
“T am well aware, General, that some efforts have been made, 
to excite in your mind prejudice against me. They may have had 
weight with you in the absence of the explanations of which my 
conduct is susceptible. I have marked some individuals whom it 
is umnecessary to name as the promoters of this object. I have 
called on them and have their written assurances that they are 
innocent of any attempt. I have done with them, and only men- 
ion it now that you know, that I never suffer fleeting circumstances 
of this kind to change my opinion of men or measure. Calumny 
when directed against a man of honest views and intentions, 
invariably recoil on those with whom it originated. 
“Wishing you long life, health & happiness, 
I remain, yr. friend with sincerity 
“Geo. Poindexter. 


““(Addressed): Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Nashville. 


EATON TO JACKSON 
“14 Dec., 1818. 
“Dear Gen’1.: 

“Yours 28 Nov. was recd. this morning & I have only time be- 
fore the mail goes out to say that lam well. Weare playing a sort of 
game of hide & seek here in relation to Florida, little subleties and 
nice mamnuverings are much practiced. The Sec. of War has laid 
before Congress a statement of the Seminole business, with “‘ax 
extract of an order to Maj. Gen’l. Jackson” which you may, like me, 
deem little strange that we should only have given to us an extract 
from that which forms the ground of controversy on relation to 
that business. This tho’ will not go down, for all & every thing 
appertaining to that business will be forced from their hiding place 
in the War Dept. and brought to view. 

“T wrote you on Sunday last, in which I stepped first into the 
field of conjectures regarding many things. As others are brought 
to light you shall hear from me. You enquire if vour presence 
should be here. I have frequently thought upon business & this 
has been my conclusion: that I would be glad you were with us if 
the inclemences of the journey could be dispensed with. But again 
you must & do know that here are little finesses and cunning prac- 
ticed, a knowledge of which to you if here would excite the warmth 
of your feelings and lead to improper results. Were you present 
and could stand aloof, cool, collected & unruffled by what might be 
said by the little glum worry of others, I should be highly gratified, 
but knowing that this would by no means be congenial to your 
temper of feeling & mind, think it best for you to be ‘absent, know- 
ing and believing that you have friends here that so far as their 
feeble powers may go, will bring forth to the world an unvarnished 
view of all things. 

“T regret you had not separated the functions in yr. treaty in 
relation to Ind. & Kent. Congress is bound to No. Carolina to 
extinguish the Indian title in Tennessee but not so as regards 


10 


146 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HisToRY 


Kentky. or her compact with Virga. This may give rise to diffi- 
culties. The treaty is not yet acted on but I hope will be in a few 
days. 

“In haste, very respectfully, 

“Wr. friends 

“Jno. H. Eaton. 
‘““Maj. Gen. A. Jackson, Nashville, Tennessee. i 

“Broney & Butler are still here. Doc. Butler has also arived, 
& will suceed I think in his business. The papers of the city have 


and are published all things full & entire in relation to the Semi- 
nole war.”’ 


COL. R. BUTLER TO JACKSON. 


“Washington City, December 15, 1818. 
“Dear General: 


“T yesterday read your letter to Doctor Cavanaugh with con- 
siderable interest, and we here previously determined that a state 
of things might exist here which would render your presence 
necessary, we hear much rumor that Georgia and New York have 
joined forces, and determined to injure the administration, if pos- 
sible, on the Florida Question. There has been much warmth al- 
ready manifested, but I think it is now subsiding on the documents 
being given to the world. If this attempt is made you are to be 
the wounded instrument on the occasion. This party is very few 
and from preparations making I think they will get lashed in the 
House beyond endurance. 

“It is desirable you should jump into the stage and come on 
for several reasons. 

“Tt is said Gen. Brown will be here, and much intrigue will be 
on foot in relation to the army. 

“The Chickesaw Treaty is still in the Senate and I learned 
there will be some opposition to it on two grounds: Ist with regard 
to paying for the relinquishment of lands for Kentucky; secondly, 
establishing the principle of suffering reservations to be given in 
fee simple, thereby leaving open room for such stipulation in all 
future treaties. However futile these opinions are they have their 
supporters, but I fancy the thing will be brought without danger. 
Crittenden swears it shall go down and assigned a reason to me for 
delay which I think prudent. 

‘‘Agreeable to your note I shall not return until I see you here, 
or learn that you will not come on, for however disagreeable it is 
to me to be separated from my little family, yet considerations 
growing out of your military reputation would have induced me to 
remain even without your note. 

“Please write me by return mail and present me affectionately 
to all friends. 

“Health accompany you, adieu. 

“Ralph Butler. 

‘““Maj Gen Jackson.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 147 


MAJ. J. H. EATON TO JACKSON. 


“Washington City, March 11, 1820. 
“Dear Genl: 

“In my letter a few days ago, I promised that shortly thereafter 
I would again write you. Your memorial was at that time post- 
poned that gentlemen might have an opportunity to examine and 
see how far it would prove to them palitable and how far the lan- 
guage might be consideréd decorous; as you will have perceived 
by the news papers it was shortly afterwards called up, but in- 
terrupted upon the discussion by the slave bill which had been re- 
turned to us from the House of Representatives. That being dis- 
posed of, the memorial was again adverted to by Mr. King, and 
after about six or eight speeches, and divers animadversions on the 

_character of the report of last year; and after the acremony & 
severity of your memorial had been descanted upon & defended, 
it was ordered to be printed. 

“The advocates and the opposers you will have seen in the 
Intelligencer : amongst the number was Mr. Pinkney who advocated 
the memorial. He said it was true that it did not, as regarded the 
Committee, speak in laudatory phrase, or in suppliant style, nor 
would such language have been worthy:of yourself—that it was a 
manly argumentative and dignified appeal, and a bold and free 
examination of an Indictment preferred at. last session, and was 
drawn in a style & manner suited to the cause that produced it. 
He said it was a duty the Senate owed, after what had hereto- 
fore transpired, to give, under their sanction, publicity to the 

emorial, and by this official act to ward off assult from one whose 
reputation and character was the property of the nation and 
ought to be so considered. 


“It must b2 to you a matter highly satisfactory that men so 
eminently distinguished, and at the same time so competent to 
judge as King and Pinkney, are discovered to be approvers of your 
course and conduct in the Seme. war, men who being almost stran- 
gers to you, can feelno other impulse than that which reason sanctions. 

. The opposition to printing was so feebly maintained, and the 
strength of argum:nt and numbers being on the side of the me- 
morial, that in the end, before the discussion had closed, opposition 
was withdrawn, & six hundred copies were ordered to be printed; 
so soon as they are finished I will send you one. 


“You will remember I stated to you, that Doct, Bronagh and 
myself had transcribed and made some changes in*the memorial. 
Aiter this it was handed over to Mr. Pinkney and to Mr. King, 
who had desired to see it. “They proposed, after having examined 
it, that some alteration or changes should be made in the first 
pages; and particularly desired that the sentences which alleged 
that you had ‘understood’ the report had not been drawn by any 
of the Committee should be crossed out & not printed. Th y said 
that anything the memorial might contain, directly personal would 


148 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


e 

in coming before the public prove injurious, not beneficial to the 
end, which ought to be the only one intended to be answered, (to wit) 
the placing the report of the Senate properly before the public. I 
at first refused, but on a second interview with them on the sub- 
ject, this was my reply: that you would I well knew be satisfied 
with any fredom or course your friends might deem advisable and 
if hey would state their opinions in writing, to be sent to you, & 
thereby unite with me in the responsibility, I would consent to the 
alterations proposed. Accordingly they a made; and when you 
shall see the memorial I am persuaded that in what has been done, 
there is nothing to which you will object. I will enclose you the 
writing referred to, as the basis of what was done, when next I 
write; it is not at hand or it would be now forwarded. The mem- 
orial will, I expect, be printed in eight or ten days hence. 


“Those gentlemen and others warmly your friends are opposed 
to any further examination of this subject. There is no way to 
reach it but by reference of the whole matter again to a commottee 
and they say that this ought not to be done—that the Report of 
last year is duly appreciated every where, & is without any the 
effects in relation to you, that you conjecture to have been pro- 
duced ;—that the Senate never made the report theirs by adoption, 
o- did more than to direct, as a matter ordinarily usual, its print- 
‘ng: and that your memorial which is as full and satisfactory as 
any report that could be made, being also by the Senate ordered 
to be printed, is making the reparation commensurate with the 
injustice. ‘They say it is not an answer and defense published by 
yourself, & therefore a private matter; but a reply presented to the 
Senate, who by the order made for its publication, sanction your 
opinion as much as they, by ordering the publication of the report, 
gave it sanction; and that, hence, the whole matter stands as tho’ the 
Senate never had acted on it as the opinion of three men. Added 
to all this a great majority concur with you, that it is a business 
with which the Senate had, and ought to have had nothing to do, 
and that a sacrifice of this opinion would be contained in pressing 
the enquiry again. Such being the opinions of those whose friend- 
ship is unquestionable gives additional weight. Of the good wishes 
of hm who is principal actor in this business the presenter of the 
memorial you have heretofore had evidence—tha of Mr. Pinkney 
is no less than his. 


‘“‘A further objection however to the reference is this, that (for 
you know they,are chosen in the Senate by ballot) an unfavorably 
disposed committee might be selected. It is very easy in a body 
of 40, for 12 or 15 men acting in concert to appoint a committee of 
their own: their own ballots would be certain, while the scattering 
votes of those unapprised of the scheme might effect the purpose: 
true a similar concert by a majority might defeat it, but then here 
is the objection; you have presented the memorial and stirred the 
investigation, and for your friends under such circumstances to 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 149 


attempt any concert of the kind would afford room for recrimination 
& censure to you; havingaregard for your honor & feelings they could 
not venture upon such a course: and not to do so, but to trust the 
matter to those inimicably disposed, would be to venture at great 
hazard, in pursuit of an unprofitable result, and to afford an oppor- 
tunity for the venting of any lurking spleen. Your memorial hav- 
ing been printed by order of, and bearing with it the sanction, of 
the Senate, s as full a report as any Committee could give, however 
favorably disposed. 

“Besides the opinions entertained by many, that the Senate 
have not & never should have entertained jurisdiction, as you have 
well argued, would render an attempt to recommit the enquiry 
hazardous; & should it be made & fail of success it might produce 
an injurious effect.. Upon the whole therefore, your friends have 
come to this conclusion, that the ‘strong’ spirited and dignified 
appeal you have made through the Senate, and by them under a 
feeble opposition ordered to be printed, will effectually put the 
‘Lacock Report’ to rest, and ought forever to quiet your feelings 
upon the subject. My desire to consult and to pursue your own 
wishes upon this subject would be sufficient to attempt the ref- 
erence but your friends deeming a different course advisable and 
proper, renders it prudent to forbear any further attempt; especially 
too as public opinion is now decidedly with you. The Committee 
on foreign relations in the Ho. Rep. yesterday made report author- 
izing the President to take possession of EF & W Florida. Mr. 
Forsyth’s correspondence in addition to what you have seen was 
yesterday laid before both houses. Hisremonstrance, as he calls it, 
to the Spanish Secy. of State was referred & sent back as highly 
offensive. He informs Mr. Secty Adams that he shall retire from 
Madrid into France. Doubtless he has left the Spanish Court. 

“Some of our profound politicians have shown a great know- 
ledge of the situation of the affairs of their Country and if clothed 
with sensibility must feel a little mortified. A reference to the 
Intelligencer of yesterday will shew them debating on the reduction 
of the army & navy, & urging it as necessary, when lo, on the very 
next day, out comes a report for active measures of a warlike nature, 
which points to the necessity of an increase instead of a diminution. 


“In the progress of my house bill for the relief of the Volunteers 
it has been urged that they were paid for clothing. There is an 
old law, during the war which directs volunteers tendering their 
services for one year, & accepted of by the President, to be supplied 
or paid for clothing; but this law is obsolete, & at any rate applied 
not to the Seminole volunteers who were to have the same pay &c 
as had been given to the Militia during the war, which was $6 66/100 
under the act of 1795 in lieu of everything. Pray did they receive 
cloathing, & was it by your orders? 

‘The President says he has recd your letter. Hesaid he wanted 
to have with me some conversation in relation to it, but it being a 


150 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


levee evening & much crowded, no opportunity was then had. He 
desired me to say to you that he has been so taken up with the deep 
agitation here the (Missouri Bill) that he did not have time but 
that he would shortly write you. The agitation was indeed great 
I assure you, dissolution of the Union had become quite a familiar 
subject. By the Compromise, however, restricting slavery north 
of 36} degrees we ended this unpleasant question. Of this the 
Southern people are complaining, but they ought not, for it has 
preserved peace, dissipated angry feelings & dispelled appearances 
which seemed dark & horrible & threatening to the interest & har- 
mony of the nation. ‘The constitution has not been surrendered 
by this peace offering, for it only applies while a territory, when it 
is admitted, congress have the power & right to legislate, & not 
when they shall become states. 

“I fear I have tired you, so good night. Present me respect- 
fully to Mrs. Jackson & to my friend Capt Call. 

“Yours truly, 
“|. Ho Baton. 

“Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Nashville, Tennessee. 


MAJ. J. H. EATON TO JACKSON. 


“March 15, 1820. 
“Dear Gen'l: 

“Calling at the office to examine the proof that it might be 
correctly printed, I obtained a form of the first part of your me- 
moral and now enclose it that you may see the style and character 
of it as it stands after the alterations which in my letter of Sat- 
urday last you were apprised had been made by certain of your 
friends. I stated to you in my last the desire entertained that some 
expressions should be altered, on my own responsibility while 
Doctor Bronaugh and myself were transcribing I felt an unwill- 
ingness to alter farther than to render it chaste and perfect as I 
could in many parts which owing to your haste in drawing it had 
been neglected. Mr. P and Mr. K on examining it suggested and 
desired that I might venture to make some changes which they 
thought would prove advisable. My course and reasons in this . 
respect were suggested in my last letter and I now enclose you the 
‘paper which they signed to shew you how and wherefore any 
alterations were made. I am persuaded on examing the part I 
have sent you, it will be perceived that enough of strength and 
firmness remains to do ample justice to yourself upon this subject. 

‘The Senate have ordered 600 copies. Gentlemen are de- 
sirous to circulate them and an additional number has been printed 
making 1,000. In addition to this the memorial will appear in the 
Intelligencer and other papers, so that its circulation will be general 
and extensive. 

“Vour last letter is received. My — is not here; he promised 
to leave these accounts with me, but has gone to New York and 
carried them with him. I will as you desire see the Secretary of 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTorY 151 


War, and having conversed with him, will give a prudent and 
proper direction to the papers; and shortly will again write you. 
“Adieu, Yours respectfully 
igi Batons 


“The enclosed paper was signed with a view to be sent to you. 
It was at my room when I wrote before and was not enclosed. 


MAJ. J. H. EATON TO JACKSON. 


“Washington, April 2, 1820- 
“Dear Gen’l: 

“Yesterday your letter of March the 15th, reached me. Mine 
of the 11th, particularly explaining the course concluded on in 
relation to your memorial has ere this reached you, and has I hope 
been deemed satisfactory. The evidences of the public mind as 
derived thro’ the different newspapers is expressive of the opinions 
entertained towards you, and of the character and style of your 
answer. Independent of these I can assure you that I have heard 
many, very many persons, from different parts of the union speak 
of it, and but one sentiment prevails; that it is a most able and dig- 
nified paper; and all concur in applauding as well the argument, 
as the decorous and covered severity with which it is drawn. 

‘“The New York Evening Post, which you know during last winter 
and summer was decidedly and warmly opposed to you on this 
question has published your reply; and in the editorial remarks 
submitted, pronounced it an able paper, and declares himself 
converted by it. The Baltimore Federal Republican, I understand, 
tho’ I have not seen it, says that it is for sound argument and con- 
viction, superior to every thing that has ever been said in congress 
upon the subject. Other such similar opinions also you will find 
in the paper which is here inclosed. With these concuring testi- 
monies on its side, where is the necessity of any reference of the 
matter in the Senate? There is no way to get at it but by appoint- 
ing a committee to examine the whole ground anew, and then with 
the most favourable and flattering report, they could say nothing 
that you have not said; or contribute in the least to make the 
opinions of the people (every where) more favourable than they 
are already. 

“Upon this subject tho’ I have twice written to you, and when 
I assure you, that my conclusion has been made out of the best 
reflections for your interest and regard for your feelings; and with 
the concurrence too of such as are truly your friends, you will, I am 
persuaded, be satisfied with my decision. The memorial in Pam- 

hlets and in newspapers will go to every part of the Union. 

“The Secretary at War, says your transportation account is 
not objected to. As regards that for quarters and fuel I have said 
to him what you requested; that if he thought it improper and 
other officers had not received it; you wished it not to be insisted 
on. This reply to me is that none has ever been allowed for quart- 


152 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HIsTorY 


ers and fuel while at Washington except such officers as have been 
stationed here regularly; visitants have not been allowed it. That 
General Brown has been paid for such items heretofore accruing 
while at home; but that at present both his account and yours 
are suspended, because of some doubts lately suggested on the law 
in relation to this allowance. Mr. Calhoun requests that I would 
say to you, that the inclination of his mind at present is that the 
interpretation heretofore given was correct and that payment 
ment should be made, but that he should examine it fully, and 
before I left this place would apprise me of his determination. 

“Col. Williams and Judge Overton will not I, expect, disagree 
when they shall understand each other. Williams’ letter com- 
plains that the Pamphlet charges him with entering Florida with- 
out orders, that ‘his whele proceedings were without authority.’ 
Now as it regards raising the Corps and appointing his officers, 
it is true, for from Gen. Pinkney’s letter, and the Secretary of War, 
answer which I sent to Judge Overton, it appears that no tender of 
service was ever made under the act, or any thing known of the 
Corps until they arrived in Georgia. All this Col. Williams 
would be compelled to admit, for the documents shew it; but he 
says, and I believe the documents show this too, that he entered 
Florida under orders from Gen. Flournoy; and hence in this par- 
ticular the Pamphlet is incorrect. I am of opinion that many 
things have been said of Williams about this Semenole war which 
are unfounded. Doc. Bronaugh told me, that he had enquired 
here about it, and could ascertain no exceptionable or improper 
remarks that he had ever used. I well remember to have heard last 
winter of remarks which had been attributed to him by Gen. Stokes. 
I believe Bronaugh conversed with the general, and so far as I 
understood the Doctor, it was, that there was in it all, nothing 
improper. During this winter he has said nothing about it, I 
think; and had any strong opposition been raised to the printing 
your memorial, I am persuaded the Col. would have been on your 
side. 

“T desire you will not send your resignation on until after ay 
return home. 

“Your friend, 
“J. H. Baten 


MAJ. J. H. EATON TO JACKSON. 


“Washington, April 16, 1820. 
“Wear Gen: 

“On Saturday I received your letter of the 29th ultimo, and 
was pleased to find that the course pursued here in relation to your 
memorial was acceptable to yourself. That what was done is 
supported by prudence and conduces more effectually to the main 
object designed by you to be effected,to wit: the placing the matter 
understandingly and fully before the nation, I am more than ever 
convinced of. There have been many strictures and remarks 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 153 


made upon your memorial by different papers thro’ the States, and 
in none yet have I seen any other than the strongest expression in 
its favour; even two prominent papers one at New York and one 
at Baltimore heretofore decidedly on the opposite side have ack- 
nowledged themselves convinced by what you have said. 


“The copies sent to you and others have before this been re- 
ceived. You will find on perusal that the alterations made were 
inconsiderable: the one named to you before (viz) that the com- 
mittee as you had understood had not drafted the report, was the 
most material; other changes were principally as to phraseology, 
such as poison, attrocious falsehoods and such like expressions 
which were exchanged for words of softerimport. The suppression 
of the sentence in relation to ‘the gentleman who was the chief 
juggler behind the scenes’ you say you somewhat regret. I think 
tho’ you ought not to regret it;for independent of the harshness of 
expression, your proof was hardly sufficient to support the remark, 
I expect. Your expression used was that you had understood the 
report was not drafted by any one of C. I believe I know your 
authority for saying so; it grew out of some statements made by 
Bronaugh that the chairman had on getting a copy of the strictures 
at Gab’s office gone immediately to Mr. C’house. Now nobody 
acquainted with Laycock ever supposed that he could write it, 
yet this circumstance of yours would not sanction such a con- 
clusion and hence was it better to say nothing about it, but merely 
to leave it before the public on the general literary reputation of the 
man. ‘There is no reasoning against the effect and influence of one’s 
feelings, but these apart, I would say you have done enough and 
more is not required. The subject can not be placed before the 
nation stronger or better, no matter who shall take it in hand, and 
this being the case, I repeat, more is not required. 

“You seem to be a little dissatisfied with Storr’s report, and 
talk of replying. Believe me Sir you ought not. If you are to 
suffer your repose to be disturbed at the snarles of every man who 
availing himself of his little brief official authority shall speak of 
you, when pray will you get thro’? By yourself and thro’ your 
friends your case has been heard in Congress and is fairly before 
the Country; there trust it, nor believe that any little party yelp- 
ings will change its features. 

“Your memorial came before the public at the moment that 
Storrs from his select committee discovered his budget. His book 
fell still born from the press, and nothing here has been spoken or 
said about it in any way, by any body; and thus you perceive its 
feebleness, and how little it is to be regarded. 

“T had a copy of it which it became necessary for me to examine 
particularly, inasmuch as it had a bearing as ‘twas said on my 
Semenole horse bill which I had reported to the Senate; before I 
could part with it, the report was published in the Intelligencer, 
where I concluded you would ee it, or else the copy I had would 
have been sent you, that you might have known all that was doing. 


154 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘‘T examined this book critically, and spoke of it freely as being 
destitute of accuracy. It was used against me in the Senate, with 
a view to prevent the troops being compensated for their horses, 
because they had received the 40 cents improperly. I argued it 
in the way you have suggested; that the act of 1795 had nothing to 
do with it: that the act of 1818 had said that they should have the 
highest compensation given to militia during the war, and that 
whatever had been given to troops of the same description they 
were by right entitled to; and that hence all the emoluments se- 
cured under the act of 1818, rightfully belonged to them: and so 
the Senate by a great majority determined. Clothes they were not 
entitled to; the only law upon this subject was in relation to Vol- 
unteers who had actually served during one year, then, and not 
else were they to have an allowance for clothing: this law had ex- 
pired and was not revived by the act of 1818, at any rate, they had 
not served a year. As regards what is said on the subject of ‘sub- 
sidizing’ the Indians, by all men of intelligence this general remark 
is made that they always have and always must be employed, not 
from any advantages to be derived from them, but to make them 
neutral; if not employed, they will unite with the enemy; this Mr. 
S. seems not to have known. All that has been said in the Report 
about the Volunteers, the departure from orders and the con- 
stitution, those old topics are answered and fully met by what you 
have already said; to repeat my text then, more need not be said, 
and so I trust you will consider it. 


“You will see in the Washington Gazette of Saturday a pretty 
severe commentary on Mr. Clay’s Florida resolutions. "They are 
from the pen of perhaps some one of the heads of departments, 
you can guess asI do. Before the caucas he was looked to as Vice 
President, but with all the manuvering resorted to, not more than 
30 members attended, and so the caucas failed in producing any 
result. I believe not more than one member from ten attended 
(Cocke). 

““Gen’l Veros is here, he appears to be about 54 or 5 years of 
age, small and spare, with a countenance marked with much 
firmness and intelligence. Rumor, which is all we have, reports 
him the bearer of the treaty; if so we shall be here some time yet— 
otherwise congress will adjourn by the middle or 20th of May. 
I shall be glad to get away, and glad once again to get back to the 
management of my own little private affairs, and leave the affairs 
of the nation to wiser heads. I am not dissatisfied with the little 
political journey I have taken, for in it I have seen much of the 
ways of the world and from it shall derive some little benefit. I 
have seen the great men of this nation, and they are mere men; 
instead of marching forward with an eye singled to the public good, 
the quest of vision, a thirst after popularity, marks their progress. 
We have too many desirous to occupy the highest seat in the syn- 
agogue, and amidst the strife. the public interest, if not sacrificed, is 
neglected. Our affairs are sad enough I think, tho’ perhaps it will 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 15 


On 


remain a secret yet a while longer. Our treasury is empty; in this 
state of things 2 millions are to be borrowed, and the residue is to 
be made up by attaching the sinking fund. This may do very well 
just now—we still may go on to invade this fund (that ought to be 
held sacred) for four years longer, for I believe that none of our war 
debt is due and payable until 1825; but what then why when this 
period arrives, the fund prepared for it being taken away, heavy 
taxes must be resorted to, as the credit of the nation is impaired. 
The politician who has never read beyond Blackstone, might have 
learned that torefrain from taxes,and to goon accumulating debt 
will at last create a load, which revolution can only remove; and yet 
a system of partial taxation at first would avoid the evil and leave 
posterity at ease; but from the highest, to the lowest, popularity is 
the hobby, and taxes dare not be resorted to. I have come to this 
opinion, after what I have seen, that no man ought to be in the 
Cabinet Councils who seeks to be President. The moment he is 
found to entertain such views, dismiss him. Unfortunately how- 
ever we have three, and while each is pulling against the other, the 
interest of the country will be wrecked. I could say much to you, 
and not without regret upon these governmental affairs, but I 
will forbear until we meet, and then we will talk together. My 
opinions arise from no fastidiousness, no discontent, I seek no fav- 
ours, for I know of no office that I would solicit, could I procure it; 
my opinion and my regrets arise alone from what I see, and from a 
solicitude to see my country prosperous; but these pigmy politicians 
who like Knickerbocker’s justice, weigh every thing in the balance, 
and calculate before they act, upon their why’s and wherefores, 
are good for nought, unfit to rule. 

‘We shall have no war, let Spain act as she may, my reasons for 
this opinion are already before you, lack of independence. Taxes 
would be necessary and sooner than impose them, congress would 
submit to ordeal. Nevertheless as I have before remarked to you 
don’t surrender your commission until I return to Nashville. 

“I know you are wearied of my political nostrums, and long 
letter; but when writing to you, I ever speak freely, and perhaps 
often too fully for your convenience: but you can read them when 
you haveleisure;and should you even from their length be deterred 
from a perusal, nothing will be lost, for I always write in haste, and 
often submit undigested matter. 

“Present me to Mrs. Jackson and Capt. Call. 

“Yours truly. 
| Se Baton.” 


FELIX GRUNDY TO JACKSON. 


“‘(Confidential) 
“Nashville, June 27th, 1822. 
“Dear General: 
“Tt will not be in my power to pay you the promised visit—The 
absence of Mrs. Grundy, who has gone to see our daughter at 


156 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


Gallatin, prevents my leaving home—The subject to which I wish 
your attention is this—Your friends, wish to know, whether there 
is any cause, unknown to them, which would render it improper 
in them to exercise their own discretion and judgment, in bringing 
forward your name in such way as may be thought best, for the 
office of Chief Magistrate of the United States at the approaching 
election—The General Assembly will meet on the 22nd of next 
month. ‘Then is the time to take a decisive step. I have latterly 
attended to political matters of this kind at a distance or in other 
parts of the Union—But I think I know the people of Tennessee— 
Of the unanimous vote of this State, no doubt need be entertained. 
Indeed, I believe the anxiety of many of this subject is increased by 
the consideration, that it will afford the citizens of this state an 
opportunity of refuting the slander which has gone abroad—That 
you are not popular at home; by which the people of this state are 
indirectly charged, with ingratitude and insensibility to your public 
services—Will you deliberate on this subject, and when you come to 
Nashville, I will call on you. 
“Your friend, 
“Felix Grundy. 


JACKSON TO DR. BRONAUGH. 


“Hermitage, July 18th, 1822. 
‘Dear Bronaugh: 

“T have had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 17th of 
June which reached me by due course of mail and also yours of the 
24th, which is just to hand. 

“T delayed answering your letter of the 17th, with a hope that 
IT would have had it in my power to have seen Doctor McCall who 
had, a few days before its receipt, went to Alabama. I saw his 
father yesterday who says he expects his return daily, when he 
will call upon me, and I shall endeavour to hasten his journey to 
you and by him (it he goes) send your horse. I sincerely regret 
the disagreeable situation of the territory from the absence of the 
officers appointed to carry the organization into effect given to the 
territory by the late act of congress; but onerthing is certain, that 
the existing authority continues, until the officers appointed under 
the late regulations arrive and are sworn into office, and the idea 
of an interregnum which I see afloat in your country is entirely ’ 
ideal. ‘The conduct of Mr. Monroe in appointing councellors, not 
inhabitants of the Floridas at the time of the appointment is 
inconsistant with (my recollection of) the act of congress, for that 
act if I mistake not confines the selection of the council from 
amongst the then citizens or residents of Florida It is very 
strange that he has not filled the vacancy in the judiciary of West 
Florida by the nonexceptance of Mr. Branch, but not more strange 
than his appointing him when he knew he would not accept the 
appointment; I am of the opinion he does not intend to appoint 


4 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY IS 


our mutual friend Brakenridge if he can get anybody in North 
Carolina to accept it; for my part I cannot understand him, he has 
wrote me a very cautious, and studied answer in which he takes no 
particular notice of the anonymous letter; I have not replied to it 
as yet. 

“It affords me much pleasure to hear that the Governor has 
reached you, and that he has been well received by the people, 
this augurs well—but I know the people there, and you may look 
out for feuds and party—and unless the Governor shapes his 
course at first, and firmly pursues an undeviating policy, he will 
get h mself in difficulty, the council (if united) will be his efficient 
prop; but Col. Barnett will raise a party in opposition to the views 
of the Governor, except he goes with Barnett, which I am certain 
he will not—nay that he cannot, if he pursues a course to produce 
the best results to the interest and prosperity of the country—and 
say to Governor Duvol to have his eye upon the Colonel. He is 
arch and cunning, and if he can, will intrigue. By pursuing an 
energetic, steady, course the Governor will succeed in keeping 
down party spirit, and administering the government, both to 
the happiness and harmony of the people, as well as to the benefit 
of the country—but to effect this he must at oncé take his course 
with energy, and convince those spirits of party, that he cannot 
be shaken. I have not the act of congress before me, but I am of 
the opinion the Legislative Council can by law point out and 
establish the mode of electing the delegate, and if it is found from 
the lateness of the season, that a law authorizing the election of 
the delegate by the people can not be passed and promulgated in 
due time for an election before Congress meets, it strikes me, that 
the council can, temporily, appoint the delegate until an election 
by the people can take place—but not having the law before me, I 
cannot, nor do I pretend to give a deliberate opinion upon this 
subject. 

“TI hope you will have nothing to fear from the opposition of 
Col. Barnett; should not Mr. Worthington of East Florida be a 
candidate, I will write him, and I expect he will support you. 
Should he, with the interest of the Governor you will have but 
little to apprehend—from Mr. McW’s farewell address I was ap- 
prehensive he was preparing the way for some favour from the 
people. 

“T am happy to find from letters from Capts. Cole and Easter 
that all my old friends will support you. I knew Major Bowie was 
a snake in the grass—he is opposed to you. I hope Mr. Austin 
will support you--say to Col. Wolcott I cherish for him the 
sincere feelings of friendship, he has my best wishes. I would 
write him but I am really oppressed with answering letters in the 
last quarter. My postage amounted to $54.; this is equal to 
my cotton crop. Give my good wishes to all my friends. I shall 
write Overton, Call, Easter and Brakenridge tomorrow—Mrs. J. 
and the Andrews join me in good wishes. You will see from the 


158 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


papers that my name has been brought forward; every application 
to me I give the same answer, that I have never been a candidate 
for any office. Inever will. But the people have a right to choose 
whom they will to perform their constitutional duties, and when 
the people call the citizen is bound to render the service required. 
I think Crawford is lost sight of, and his friends are about to bring 
forward Mr. Clay; Calhoun (Eaton says) at congress is the strong- 
est man. I am told Mr. Adams at present the strongest in this 
state. 
“Accept My Dear Sir, of my best wishes. Adieu for the pres- 
ent. 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Doctor J. C. Bronaugh.”’ 
JACKSON TO DR. BRONAUGH. 

“Hermitage, August Ist, 1822. 
“Dear Doctor: 

“Doctor McCall returned from Alabama yesterday and visit- 
ted me last night, heis grateful to you for your professed friendship, 
and will set out to join you at Pensacola, so soon as he can arrange 
his private concerns, which he thinks will detain him seven days, 
you may calculaté on his joining you about the 28th instant—the 
Doctor will ride your horse, he is in good order and I have no 
doubt will reach you in good condition. 

“T see you have an opponent in Col. Barnett: This I expected, 
as I well knew he was unfriendly to me, I expect he will be sup- 
ported by Major Bowie. I always viewed him from the time of 
my collision with the Spanish officers, as inimical to me, and I 
could see a great intimacy between him and Barnett, and although 
Barnett was not open in his opposition, I knew he was secretly my 
enemy, and I had no confidence in the Major from the period 
spoken of, they are both weak men and full of duplicity. I name 
this to you that you may be on your guard, for a secret enemy can 
do more injury than two open ones. I have just received a letter 
from Governor Duval, he expresses towards you the most sincere 
friendship, and I expect his influence in East Florida will give you 
a majority there if prudently wielded. 

‘The newspapers will give you the political news of this quar- 
ter, our Legislature is in session and I am told has passed a res- 
olution by a unanimous vote in the house of representatives on the 
presidential election. I have not seen it, I therefore must refer you 
to the newspaper containing their proceedings—I have not visited 
the assembly. I had intended it but my health was not good, and 
hearing accidently that something of the kind -was intended, I 
instantly declined going there. I knew it would have been said 
that I was there electioneering as I never have nor do not intend. 
I shall remain at home. I never have been an applicant for office. 
I never will. The people have a right to do as they please in this 
instance as you are well advised I mean to be silent. I have no 
desire, nor do I expect ever to be called to fill the Presidential 


— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 159 


chair, but should this be the case, contrary to my wishes and ex- 
pectations, I am determined it shall be without any exertion on 
my part, and on this unexpected event all that can be expected of 
me is to obey the call of the people, and execute the duties to the 
best of my matured judgment. 

“IT am very solicitous about your success am I. sure you will 
meet with the support of all the enlghtened and honest class, 
and I think if you manage Doctor Brasinham well, he can wield the 
Spanish interest regardless of the miles of Animosity, who I have 
no doubt one of Col. Barnett’s solicitous friends, that caused him 
to come out. 

“Let me hear from you and your prospects. I have not seen 
Doctor Hogg since you left me. Shall write him shortly on your 
business, should I not meet with him. 

“Mrs. J. joins me in good wishes for your success, and helieve 
me to be your friend sincerely. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Doctor J. C. Bronaugh: 


“P.S. Present me to the Governor respectfully. 
pA! iy 


“P. S. Give my compliments to all friends, particularly to 
Call, Easter, Rutledge, Wolton, Miller, Brakenridge Curry etc.” 


JACKSON TO GEN. SAM HOUSTON. 


“Hermitage, November 22nd, 1826. 
“Dear Gen’l: 


“I set out to-morrow for the neighbourhood of Florence to 
make some arrangement relative to the interest of my little ward, 
H., whose cotton ginn and all the cotton has been consumed by 
fire. I therefore before I leave home trouble you with this letter. 

“I am anxious as early as your convenience will admit, that 
you should see Doctor Wallace and Col. Gray, and obtain their 
statement in writing of what the Secretary of the Navy should 
have said, at the public dinner given him at Fredericksburg, Va., 
relative to my leaving the army without leave or orders etc., and 
communicate a copy to me and retain the original yourself; so 
soon as this is done present my note to the secretary and transmit 
me his reply. I trust yau will attend to this thing promptly for 
me; for I find the heads of departments have been ranging the 
union and secretly intimating slanderous things of me. This I 
mean to expose, and put down, one after the other, as I can obtain 
the positive proof. Let zt not be long before I hear from you. 

“T have received several letters from the western district since 
you left Nashville, the current has changed there, and you will 
(unless a mighty change) receive an overwhelming majority. The 
result of your political quarrel, and Major Eaton’s re-election, has 
put down the faction, and unanimity and harmony will pervade our 
whole state. 


160 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Present me to Mr. John Randolph and all my friends in the 
senate. If you find it convenient, you may suggest a desire I have 
of obtaining a good filly got by Sir Archey and full bred by the 
dam side—knowing that he as the purest blood, if he has a filly 
of this description broke to the halter, that he can sell for $300 
or under that sum, say a two or three year old, if he will deliver 
such a one to you, and you will bring her out, I will be prompt in 
remitting him the amount. 

“Mrs. J. and all my family including Mr. Earle unite in kind 
salutations to you. Present us to Major Polk and Lady and all the 
Tennessee delegation with such other friends as enquire for me. 

“Respectfully Your friend, 
‘‘ANDREW JACKSON. 


“Gen. Sam Houston: 


“P.S. Please transmit under cover, the enclosed, to its address. 
Be ale 


“Capt. A. J. Donelson who has engaged my stud colts, desires 
me to say to you, if a faithful good keeper of race horses can be got, 
he will give them good wages, a freeman of colour, who could be 
well recommended for his capacity and honesty would be preferred, 
from one hundred dollars to one hundred and fifty of standing 
wages would be given, besides other privileges, but none except 
those well recommended would be employed; he must be sober, 
honest, capable, under such recommendations, I will guarantee 
any engagement for the Capt. that you may make. 

Be OR fee 


DUFF GREEN TO JACKSON. 


“Washington, July 8th, 1827. 
“Dear Sir: 

“The multiplied duties of my office have kept me’so much en- 
gaged that I have not indulged myself in writing letters as I should 
do. You have been of the number neglected. You will however 
permit me through you to tender to Mrs. Jackson the congrat- 
ulations of a sincere friend on the satisfactory and conclusive 
vindication of her innocence which has been presented to the public 
by the Nashville Committee. To a lady of her great sensibility 
the knowledge of her own innocence would bring much consolation 
but that sensibility must have been the more acute when she saw 
that the envenomed shafts of malice were aimed at her on your 
account ... Let her rejoice her vindication is complete—the voice 
of slander is hushed—and she must be gratified to know that your 
magnanimity to her is rightly appreciated by an intelligent public. 
That so far from impairing the confidence of the people in you this 
attack has made you many friends. I am aware of the delicacy of 
the subject and under other circumstances would be last to intrude 
such remarks upon your notice, but I have not been without my 
share of difficulty in this matter. I know the necessity of bringing 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 161 


home the matter to Mr. Adams’ own family and by threats of 
retaliation drive the Journal to condemn itself. This you have no 
doubt seen and understood. The effect here was like electricity. 
The whole Adams corps were thrown into consternation. They 
had no doubt that I would execute my threat and I was denounced 
in the most bitter terms for assailing female character by those very 
men who had rolled the slander on Mrs. Jackson under their 
tongues as the sweetest morsel that had been dressed up by Peter 
Force and Co., during the whole campaign. It was plainly hinted 
that my paper must not be taken at the public offices and some 
of those who had been suspected of Jacksonism were weak enough 
to discontinue, and some others to threaten me with a meeting of 
your friends to disavow any approbation of my remarks unless I 
would make some apology! I put them at once at defiance—told 
them that'they had done nothing for the support of the cause— 
that I had never looked to their fears or their hopes for counsel, 
and that I looked to the people and not to the attaches of the palace 
for approbation. The gentlemen were checkmated and some of 
them have bowed to me most politely since—especially if no spies 
are near when we meet. 

“T find that I have dwelt much more at large on this unpleasant 
topic than I intended. One great object in addressing you this 
is to say that I suspect that Mr. Monroe is apprised that you have 
discovered his treachery to you and is desirous to lend the influence 
of his name to promote the re-election of Mr. Adams. I am told 
that numerous documents in relation to the Campaign of 1814-15 
have been furnished him from the War Department and that he 
and Southard have been in active correspondence. Is it not 
probable that the late notice of your correspondence with Southard 
in the National Intelligencer is intended to provoke a publication 
on your part, so as to give Mr. Monroe an opportunity to come 
out If this conjecture be right it would appear to me proper 
that Monroe’s former treachery (for I can call it by no other name) 
should be exposed. How much did the sight of that letter change 
my opinion of the man! 

“T have written to Doctor Wallace to send me a copy of your 
correspondence, that I may be prepared to act. I shall endeavor 
to do the best I can and altho’ I willnot unnecessarily bring Mr. 
Monroe into the controversy, if he obtrudes himself, he will find 
me prepared to do him ample justice. 

“T feel the want of confidential friends and advisers. I havea 
few fast friends who are true and ready to aid with advice but, there 
are but two or three in whose opinions I can confide. The at- 
mosphere is infected, those in office (wait upon) permission of 
the President and his influence is felt in every work-shop in the city. 
It will not do for me to receive my impulses from such sources. 
I should soon sink even below Gales and Seaton were I to do so. 

“Your friend, 
Tay Greene: 


162 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


A. P. HAYNE TO JACKSON 
“‘New Orleans, December 27th, 1827. 
“Private 
““My dear General: 

“I arrived here to-day, by way of Havana, from Charleston. 
It is my intention to join you at some point on the river, previout 
to your arrival at New Orleans. I considered it my duty to be at 
your side, on the approaching mulitary festivities. And now 
General, in accordance with that privilege, you have always granted 
me, unqualified and unfit as I am to give advice, especially to such 
an individual as yourself, yet still, I beg leave most respectfully to 
suggest two ideas for your consideration, and which I should like 
to see embodied in that address of yours which will be made public, 
for I hope you will consent to publish but one of your, addresses, 
altho’ I understand three will be required of you, to-wit—one on 
the field of Battle, one to the Governor and Legislature and one at 
the dinner party. The first idea I would wish to see expressed is 
this—That, like ‘Cincinnatus,’ you left your farm—the shade of 
your own ‘Vine and /7g Tree,’ at the call of your country, in the 
hour of peril and danger, and that like ‘Cincinnatus’ you return to 
your farm the first moment the public service of your country would 
allow. ‘The next idea I would have you advert to, is some mild. 
manly and proper allusion to the wicked, false, unmanly and un- 
feeling attacks made by our enemies on your domestic happiness 
and fireside. In every other respect it appears to me that your 
address should be altogether mzlitary; the gallantry of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee afford for the occasion de- 
lightful subjects. It appears to me also, that your address should 
be concise and like Washington, whom of all other men you most 
resemble, I would wish you to read them, rather than deliver them 
extemporaneously, altho’ your friends all know it would be as easy 
for you to adopt the latter as the formermode. Will you not ‘my 
dear General, think me forward in suggesting what I have done? 
To which question, I distinctly respond no, because you know my 
heart there all is right, and you would be the very first to excuse my 
head if necessary. 

“Present me respectfully and affectionately to my friends, 
Gen’l. Coffee and to Judge Overton, whose presence on the ap- 
proaching festivities will be cheering to you. 

“T remain dear General your faithful and affectionate friend, 

A, P.) Hlayares 
‘“To General Jackson.” 


MAJ. J. H. EATON TO JACKSON. 
“January 21, 1828. 
“Dear Sir: 
“T am constantly importuned by your friends here to write 
you, and urge you by no means to notice Clay’s Book which has 
fallen still born from the press. My answer to them is, fear not, 


Nt ae 


THE ORIGINAL HERMITAGE. 


The log Home of Andrew Jackson, 1804-1819. Aaron Burr was entertained inthis house. Jackson was living here when the battle 
of New Orleans was fought in 1815, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE History 163 


General Jackson will not so far insult his friends as to take his 
own cause into his owns hands, and from his friends! You will 
have seen by the telegraph, that the Jackson Committee of cor- 
respondence, at this place, intend taking up this matter: a rampart 
of facts will be forthcoming now I think, over and around which, 
Clay with all his host of compurgators will scarcely be able to get 
‘round: they are waiting for some facts which I understand will 
very shortly be at hand. He will find some new accusers, and 
stranger than any that have yet appeared. 


“Mr. Calhoun has lately found out that you have a private 
letter of Monroe—the one you shewed me, last fall—Would you 
have any objection to send me, a copy of it, merely that he may 
see it, I myself retaining it in my own possession. He thinks it 
must be of the date of the 7th of August, 1818; and that the de- 
sign of Monroe in writing it was he well knows of the most favor- 
able kind towards you; and begs me to say, that he is fully aware, 
Mr. Monroes feelings in relation to that Semenole affair were 
never otherwise than sincere and firm towards you. Be this as it 
may, I should be glad, if proper, to procure a copy of the letter 
which shall rest with me to be used as I have before stated. As 
regards Monroe, your course and policy is to notice nothing re- 
specting him; indeed the newspapers, happen what may, shall be 
altogether avoided. Then let your friends, who are fully com- 
petent, battle the affairs; your course under any and all circum- 
stances is retirement and silence. All things are well, and some 
act of indiscretion might jeoparidise matters as they are now. 
Let us look to the main battle without regard to the small picket 
guard that may come into conflict with each other. 


“The die is cast, and the contest over; under no circumstances, 
as indicated by the present signs of the times,can your vote be 
less than 170. It can not but be complimentary to you to know 
that a majority of both Houses in Congtess are your friends and 
advocates. They will take care of your cause and interests without 
any interference on your part; they only ask of you under any and 
all circumstances to be still and let them manage whatever is to 
be done. 

“With my kind and sincere regard to Mrs. Jackson. 

“T am very truly yours, 


“Eaton.” 


GEN. T. CADWALADER TO JACKSON. 


“Philadelphia, June 21, 1828. 

“Dear General: 
“I was yesterday favored with your letter of the 2nd. Inst. 
“In my talks with Mr. Nichol, and my other friends in your 
quarter, I spoke highly in praise of the country about that neigh- 
bourhood, as the place where I would wish to select a residence, 
if I were to leave Philadelphia. I like your soil, climate and people; 


164 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


and the spot which you are so good as to recommend to me would 
have a peculiar advantage in my eyes, in adjoining the Hermitage. 

“After living, however, man and boy, more than forty years 
in this flat city of ours, my boys several of them in business about 
me, with a large body of relations, and some friends, I have no 
idea of changing my domicile, strong asis the attraction you offer 
me—in fact, the country retirement has long been one of my favor- 
ite day-dreams. I should not be sure of sleeping soundly apart 
from the battle of carts and carriages, the cries of watchmen, 
and the other Julling noises of a crowded population. 

“Before entering into your honors and trammels of the 4th 
of March, I hope we shall have the pleasure of seeing you with 
Mrs. Jackson in Philadelphia. Mrs. Cadwalader desires me to 
say that no endeavours will be spared to supply Mrs. Jackson the 
places of those warm friends whom she will leave behind her—and, 
with my kindest remembrances to that excellent lady, 

“T remain always most respectfully and truly, 

“Your friend and servant, 
“T. Cadwalader. 


, 


“Major Gen’l. Jackson.”’ 
CADWALADER TO JACKSON. 


“‘Philadelphia, October 15, 1828. 
“Dear General:- 

“Our Election has closed most triumphantly—the right tickets 
have succeeded throughout—for Congress, Assemby, and City 
Councils—Sergeant is beaten by 557 votes—the City and County 
together give majorities of between five and six thousand. The 
vote for Electors on the 31st will be even more decisive—from the 
dispiriting effect of this over-whelming victory. 

‘“‘We have no accounts yet from Jersey—this being the 2nd and 
last day of their election. That ground is debateable and we can 
well spare its votes—if we get them, it will be, to me, an agreeable 
surprise. 

“Having had a particular agency in selecting the first list of 
Directors of the office of the B. U. S. in your quarter, I feel very 
anxious to know how far public opinion approves of the Admin- 
istration. 

“Complaints have been made to me that the men are un- 
popular — that ‘the Press is selfish, without the least influence, 
except that which his official station gives him’—that ‘he has a 
numerous train of relatives engaged in commercial pursuits and 
the bank is made an instrument for the promotion of their private 
interests, without regard to the effects upon the community, or the 
bank itself — etc.,’ that with the exception of Geo. W. Campbell, 
there is not an individual in the direction who has the least influence 
beyond his own shop upon the public square—they consist for the 
most part of men who would not dare to express an independent 
opinion, if they were capable of entertaining one. *“‘Our friend, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 165 


Major I— is removed, in order to make way for a man recently 
accused and convicted (in public opinion) of fraud for a series 
of years, by the use of false weights at his cotton gin’—etc., ‘this 
change however is made by the suggestion of the President and 
Cashier for the purpose of procuring business men! This excuse 
for getting rid of an independent man is too flimsy to gain credit 
anywhere but in Philadelphia.’ 

“Should you favor me with any communications on a subject 
in which I feel interest personally, as well as in my character of 
Director of the Parent Bank, I need hardly say that I should re- 
ceive them as strictly confidential—and they would be considered 
as additional obligations to those under which your former kind- 
nesses have laid me. 

“Mrs. Cadwalader unites in compliments to Mrs. Jackson. I 
remain dear General, with the most sincere respect and regard, 

“Your Obedient Servant, 
“T. Cadwalader.”’ 


ROBERT Y. HAYNE TO JACKSON. 


“Washington, December 18, 1828. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T trust that my delay to congratulate you, on your late great 
and glorious victory has not been imputed to any indifference on 
my part, inrelation tothat event. I hope that my feelings towards 
you are too well known to make it necessary for me to say that no 
man in America can rejoice more sincerely in your happy triumph— 
a triumph of principle over intrigue, of truth over falsehood—in one 
word —of the people over corruption. But being sensible that 
calls on your time and attention must now have become oppresive, 
I had determined to refrain from offering my congratulations 
‘till I should have the pleasure of meeting you in Washington. 
It has occured to Mrs. Hayne, however, that her services might 
possibly be of use to Mrs. Jackson, before her arrival here. I en- 
close a note on that subject. Should Mrs. Jackson or yourself 
have any commands, it will give us pleasure to attend to them— 
if not —I beg that you will not put yourselves to the trouble to 
answer our letters. I have lately heard from my brother who is 
in high spirits, at having had the gratification of giving his vote as 
an elector to his old friend and commander. 

“Belive me to be with the highest respect and esteem, very 
truly yours, 

“Rob. Y. Hayne.” 


J. A. HAMILTON TO......-.--.- 


“Washington, February 23, 1829. 
““My dear Sir: : 

“We look day after day with the utmost anxiety for a letter 
from youannouncing your acceptance of the General’soffer. I 
do not ask you not to delay it because I believe it is now on its 


166 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


way. ‘The General has made up his mind to make no change in 
his cabinet but has consented that if Eaton and the P. M. G. choose 
to change places he will not object—I have been engaged today 
in preventing Eaton from consenting to the change by all means 
in my power. This and the suggestion that you will not accept 
at present engages all attention. We, that is those of your friends 
who are not disappointed, express an unhesitating confidence that 
you will not reject the proffer, because we believe and so declare 
that there is no reason for your doing so. 

“TI have just left the General, he is annimated by the shew 
of opposition which has appeared against Eaton from the Ten- 
nessee Delegation and he consequently is more like himself. He 
said to me this makes me well. I was born for a storm and a calm 
does not suit me. He wrote a letter to one of that delegation in 
which he spoke of you as the person to whom all eyes were turned 
and upon whom the nation had fixed for the first place; I anim- 
adverted upon this opposition in a severe but becoming maner. 
Write to me. 

“Has it ever occured to you that the change of the location of 
the Navy Yard from Long to Governors Island affords you a 
happy opportunity for manifesting a just and flattering solicitude 
for the interests of the city of New York? If it has there is an end 
to all I have to say—If not, ought you not to take advantage of the 
circumstance to write to the President on thesubject? You may 
advert to the apprehension whither well or ill founded of a failure 
of the Colosus that extending dock yards from that Island into 
the river may increase the rapidity of the current of the East River 
so much as to render the approach to the warves difficult — that 
its tendency may be to enlarge the passage through the meadows 
into Governors Bay (already increased so as to afford a channel for 
sloops) and by carrying out to the bar a mass of matter which may 
be deposited thus endanger our harbour. The passage to which 
I refer has certainly been formed by the increased rapidity of the 
current owing to extending the Piers of New York. I believe it is 
very clear that the session was for a military defense and nota navy 
yard (which cannot but be unsightly.) I find I have gone seriously 
into the matter when I really only intended to hint to you a subject 
for inquiry. God bless you sincerely prays your friend, 


“J. A. Hamilton. 


“T hope my letters do not partake of it, but altho. undismayed 
I am rendered quite unhappy by Adams, last cursed slander.” 


J. HAMILTON, JR., TO VAN BUREN. 
“Private and Confidential. 
“Charleston, March 25, 1829. 


“Your kind and acceptable favor My Dear Sir of the 15 inst. I 
received two days since immediately after My return to My own 
home which I reached on the 22d. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 167 


“T assure you that I was disposed to attribute your reserve in 
relation to Mystrictures on a portion of the Cabinet to anything 
but a want of confidence in myself but to a proper caution (perhaps 
which may be pushed in some cases a little too far) becoming 
both your station and your interests as a Politician. 

“But after writing you Col. J. H. Hamilton showed me your 
letter by which your silence was most satisfactorily accounted jor, 
and in a manner highly complimentary and gratifying to myself by 
the mode and terms in which your most friendly message to myself 
was conveyed. 

“T am here in the midst of my friends going the rounds oi the 
same hospitality in which you participated two years since, and 
T assure you at all these assemblies it is particularly gratifying to 
me to find that your appointment at least affords the most cordial 
satisfaction founded on a personal regard which Many cherish for 
you and an entire conviction of your qualification for your new 
duties. 

“T can not however conceal from you the fact that the other 
appointments have created great disappointment and dissatis- 
faction. JI have however got over my own chagrin and now zealous- 
ly set to work to reconcile as many of my friends to the cabinet as 
possible. I have asserted what I really believe that our party will 
be agreeably disappointed, that the cabinet will work well in 
practice and be much more successful in accomplishing the public 
expectation than is supposed. I have made this stipulation be- 
cause I rely much on old Hickorys firmness, and honesty and on 
your wisdom when he gets fairly under way. Besides Ingham is 
an acute strong man with very great power of labour in official 
details. 

“J wrote you from Fayetville in behalf of the editors and pro- 
prietors of the S. Patriot, John N. Cardozo whom Mr. Clay de- 
prived of the public printing because he could not hope to makea 

tool of him. His claim is almost a matter of contract, it is at all 
events one of assertable justice. I was therefore much mortified 
on my arrival here to find that my friend Henry 1. Pinckney the 
editor of the Charleston Mercury had applied for this poor pittance. 
If his application could have been sustained with any propriety 
you may readily suppose his brother-in-law Hayne and myself 
would have supported it. More especially when a pecuniary inter- 
est which we both have in the Mercury would not certainly have 
damped the party sympathy which we cherish for him as an able 
advocate of the Jackson cause in this city. But party sy mpathy is 
one thing and justice another, and aiter the treatment by the 
late administration of the editor of the S. Patriot, it would be as 
great an act of hardship on the part of our friends to give this 
patronage to Cardozo. You may therefore rest satisfied that his 
appointment as Public Printer will be sustained by public opinion, 
on grounds which every impartial man who hears must admit. 
Mr. Cardozo has instruced Mr. Pleasonton to discount the amount 
of his printing from his debt to the Government. 


168 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“T send you a copy of my retrenchment speech to read at your 
leisure because I am sure you have not had time to look atit. You 
will see that I have signed a bond for our party which you must all 
endeavour to pay. Without retrenchment and reform are insti- 
tuted in all the branches of administration our party can not be 
sustained, and I really hope that the rapacious kites who were 
hovering over the carcase of Uncle Sam when I left Washington 
with an eagle eye and appetite have been driven back with the 
scorn and contempt they deserve. 

“T think I told you what Gen. Washington’s rule was in regard 
to all honorary trusts, which I hope Jackson will rigidly enforce. 
The man whowill solicit a foreign Mission or authorize solicitation 
to be made for it, is utterly unworthy of the appointment, and this 
should be considered de facto as a disqualification. I am told that 
old venal Swiss Gallatin is fishing for France, I hope to God that 
the General will not disgrace himself by countenancing the rapacity 
of this old vulture. I say these things to you with perfect candor, 
for thank God I want nothing for myself as I would not give a damn 
‘to call the King My Brother.’ 

“All I want is to see a high minded administration, indelicate 
office Hunters rebuked, Men of talent modesty and independence 
honor’d and noisy corrupt and brawling partizans made to know 
that their selfish interests are not always those of the public. 

“T trust in God old Hickory may put his foot down firmly. 
The sooner he does it. the better, for come it must at last or he 
will be little else than the instrument of a faction of disgusting 
office hunters. Go for hight talent, unempeachable integrity, 
economy, moderation, and reform and all will be well. 

“God bless you. The old Chief and yourself have my best 
wishes. 

‘“‘And believe me with them most sincerely and respectfully 
My dear Sir your friend. 

“J. Hamilton, Jr. 
‘‘Hon. Martin VanBuren: 


“P. S.—I shall leave my plantation on Savannah in May for 
the North and shall without doubt have the gratification of seeing 
you somewhere in the course of the Summer. 

“‘Direct to Charleston until the Ist of May, as my letters will 
be forwarded to me from this place.”’ 


“DRAFT IN JACKSON’S HAND UNFINISHED. 


“Washington, April 26th, 1829. 

““My dear Sir:- 
‘Major Donelson has read me part of your letter just received 
I have also received one from my old friend Judge Overton, which 
I will answer as soon as a leisure moment occurs. I am much 
engaged—a rat that has been marauding on the treasury, finding 
he was detected, has left the place and I am engaged preparing 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 169 


legal process to pursue and arrest him. It may be, that the late 
Secretary of the Navy is concerned in the frauds, the presumption 
is strong still, he may be able to explain. This for yourself, and 
your confidential friends, a few days will give publicity to this 
transaction, but all must be still until the principle is arrested, and 
until the ex-secretary of the navy explains for which I have directed 
a call to be made upon him in writing, which is done; and: I presume 
he will forth-with answer—should he hesitate he will be called on 
by a judicial enquiry, and be put upon his defense, should a jury 
find him guilty, the punishment a penitentiary offense. As to the 
guilt of Tobias Watkins in this fraud upon the treasury, there can 
be no doubt—but he has disappeared. I beg my friends in Ten- 
nessee to have no fear, I will go on in the even tenor of my ways 
in harmony with my cabinet, who is one of the strongest, as I 
believe, that ever has been in the United States, cleansing the 
augean stable, my cabinet gaining upon the popularity of the nation 
daily, and my deceitful enemies in Tennessee will fall into utter 
disgrace and contempt not in Tennessee alone but in the whole 
union. J am aware of the base conduct of some of our Tennes- 
see friends towards Eaton. I heard some of the most unfounded 
lies ever propagated, that must have been circulated by some mem- 
bers of congress, be them whom they may. If Eaton can trace it 
to a source worthy of notice, they will feel the chastisement that 
such base conduct and secrete slander deserves, he has already 
paid his respects to two gentlemen here, for the tales of their wives, 
and I suppose their tongues will be hereafter sealed. I have heard 
that it has been circulated in Tennessee that Timberlake cut his 
throat on account of his jealousy of Eaton. ‘There never was a 
baser lie. To the last moment of his life he had every confidence 
in Eaton, and in November 1826 sent him a full power of attorney 
to attend to all his business, by which Major Eaton has saved from 
the rack of his fortune about $25,000 which he has willed to his 
wife and children. Read the two letters enclosed, they are from 
two gentlemen that were with him on the whole cruise intimate 
friends of his and who closed his eyes in death, and then recollect, 
that Timberlake was a Mason, Major Eaton a Mason, and Major 
Oneal, the father, a Mason and must he not be a villain who could 
ascribe to Major Eaton, such base conduct and violation of every 
virtuous obligation I would enclose you a copy of the letter of 
attorney but time will not permit—but I have had it in my pos- 
session it is authenticated in due form at Gibraltar. | 

“T have long ago intended to do something for General Carroll, 
I will give him a charge de affair to South America if he will accept 
it so soon as one is open; it is all that can be done for him, as we are 
trying to curtail our diplomatic corps at least of ministers of the 
first grade. 

“T fear nothing that Clay or such treacherous friends as Miller 
and otherscando. ‘There are men who cry out principle but are on 
the scent of treasury pap—and if I had a tzt for every one of these 


170 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY ‘TENNESSEE HISTORY 


pigs to suck at they would still be my friends. They view the ap- 
pointment of Eaton as a bar to them from office and have tried 
here with all the tools of Clay helping them on to alarm and prevent 
me from appointing him. I was elected by the free voice of the 
people. I was making a cabinet to aid mé in the administration 
of the government agreeable to their will. Major Eaton was 
necessary to me to fulfill the expressed will of the people. He 
was my friend, I knew his worth, like Washington, Jefferson and 
Madison I took him from my own state. I was not making a cab- 
inet for General Desha, Isaacs, Mitchel and Miller, I was making 
a cabinet for myself, as I told them, I did not come here to make a 
cabinet for the ladies of this place but for the nation, and that I 
believe, and so I do, that Mrs. Eaton is chaste as those who attempt 
to slander her. Assure my friends we are getting on here well, 
labour night and day and will continue to do so until we destroy 
all the rats who have been plundering the treasury. I am not 
in good health, but as long as I am able I will labour to fulfil the 
expectations of the nation. The press for office exceeds every 
thing known before and every man who voted for me lays in a claim. 
Present me affectionately to all my friends and accept my blessing.” 


JACKSON TO MR. S. OF NEW YORK. 
“Private. 
“Washington, Sept. 27th, 1829. 
“My dear Sir:- 

“In your letter of the 21st instant, marked confidential—you 
are pleased to inform me, that information has reached you through 
a channel on which reliance can be placed, that a ‘few ladies of this 
place, Washington, with a Reverend Gentleman at their head, 
has formed a determination to put Mrs. Eaton out of society, 
and who for that purpose are circulating by themselves, and their 
secrete agents, the most foul and malicious slanders, some, if not 
all, I know from investigation to be basely false, and that my 
family have attached themselves to this secrete inquisition, who 
are to admit, or not to admit into society in this place, such Ladies, 
and only such as they may think worthy,’ and enquire, and hope, 
it is not true, as it respects my family. To which I answer, as 
to my family I believe, and trust, it 1s not true, and pledge myself, so 
far as my advice can govern, that it shall not be the case. 

“You do me but justice when you say that I took Major Eaton 
into my cabinet of my own free choice, where, but for his friend- 
ship for me, he would not have gone into it, that all the cabinet 
was harmonious in the whole selection, and to abandon him, before 
all sides are heard would be so injurious to him, and to me, that my 
friends believe I am incapable of such a course. And you have so 
declared that Eaton 1s the last man on earth I ought, or would abandon. 
You have judged rightly of me. ‘The world, in truth cannot say 
that I ever abandoned a friend, without on such grounds, that a 
righteous course founded upon the principles of that gospel, which 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 171 


I not only profess to believe, but do religiously believe, or when they 
abandoned me without cause. You know my opinion of the 

purity of Eaton, I believe, and ever have believed that his morale 
character was without a blemish, and had the other day the pleas- 
ure to hear the clergyman who give currency to the tale of the dead 
Doctor and the Rev. Gentleman from Philadelphia to whom 
you allude declare in the presence of the Secretary of State, of the 
Treasury, War, Navy, Attorney General, Postmaster General, 

Major Lewis, and Major Andrew Donelson, that in all their in- 

quiries, they were free to declare, there was nothing to impeach the 
moral character of Major Eaton. And I am sure from the tes- 

timonials I have seen, that there is nothing that can, or ought to 

attach the least stain upon her virtue. I am free to declare to you, 

that I do think Major Eaton, and Mrs. Eaton more unjustly, and 
cruelly slander(ed) than history has every recorded in any other 

instance and a short time will prove it, and all this by tales cir- 

culated in the most secrete manner, under strict confidence. How 
then could the unjust world for a moment suppose I would abandon 
him. I would sooner abandon life. I have long knew the value of 
the man, and his high standing both in New York, Pennsylvania, 

and the west, and as far as justice, and truth, will authorize, I 

will sustain him. You could not shudder more at the depravity 
of morals than I have, that would sanction a system, that a clergy- 
man detailing the tale which he says he received from a deceased 
Doctor, and who has been dead nearly if not upwards of six years, 

unsupported by any other testimony, should be sufficient to destroy 
female character. I am too well acquainted with the religious 

part of our country and the high minded and honorable, to believe - 
the moment this slander is placed before the world, and the manner 
of its being circulated, but the whole people will spurn the wicked 
slander, and prostrate the slanderer. 


“T will only now add—that if this combination of which you 
speak, is really in existence, the virtuous, moral and religious world 
will begin and inquire, by what authority these ladies with their 
clergyman at their head has assumed for themselves this holy 
allience and secrete inquisition to pass in secrete upon the conduct 
of others, and say, who shall, and who shall not be permitted into 
society. If it does exist, the inquiry will go farther, it may extend 
to the inquiry into their own immaculate characters, and their 
divine right to assume such powers, and I would not for the Pres- 
idency be in their places. The indignation is arising here, as well 
as with you, and the moment it is known, must arise over the 
christianised world—for the matron, the daughter, the father 
will all cry out, where is the safety for our character, if it is placed 
within the pale of a vindictive clergyman, who from the art, shows 
he has no religion, who may get displeased with a fair and virtuous 
female, who has nothing’to do, but put forth the saying of a dead 
man, and the female character is gone forever. I can assure you 
that the morals and virtue of our country is not prepared to sup- 


172 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


port or countenance such things as this, and I am happy to hear, 
that the indignation of your citizens has become so much arroused 
at the mere recital of the conduct here—it will have a good effect, 
it must in the end, put down gossipping here, and chasten society 
every where, and give a greater respect to female character, and 
an utter detestation of slanderers. ‘Then will society enjoy peace, 
and harmony, and character be secure from secrete and unfounded 
calumnies—our society wants purging here. When you write to 
your distant friends present me to them kindly and believe me your 
friend. 
“Signed A. J. 

(to Mie SSN" 


JACKSON TO MAJ. J. H. EATON. 


“July 19th, 1830. 


“T have perused the note of Judge Berrien to you (Major Eaton) 
of the 18th of June and I regret, as he has refered to an interview 
with the President, that he has not given a fair statement, that 
you might understand (or if for publication) the public might 
understand it. First then I have to state, and do it without fear 
of contradiction, that no member of Congress was by me ever 
authorized to say that Judge Berrien, Mr. Ingham and Branch 
with their families should associate with Major Eaton and his 
or they should be removed, and Judge Berrien on the interview I 
had with him Mr. Ingham and Branch were well advised of this 
by me and to them [entered my protest against any such inter- 
ference. ‘The Judge ought to have stated, for he well knew the 
fact, that various members of Congress, had communicated it to 
me, that there were a combination entered into with a foreign 
Lady with these gentlemen and families to drive Major Eaton and 
family out of society and had appealed to me if I would suffer such 
indignity to myself after inviting Major Eaton into my Cabinet 
- and he reluctantly assenting. To all which I replied I surely would 
not, but I could not believe that these gentlemen would act such 
dishonorable a part, having come into my cabinet with the greatest 
harmony; but if I found them capable of such Dishonorable conduct 
as combining together with this foreign lady for such unworthy 
purpose I would promptly remove them from my cabinet. I was 
informed that the plan was this, the foreign lady was to make 
a party and invite all the heads of departments and families but 
Major Eaton, that Mr. Ingram was to follow, Branch and Berrien, 
I was informed by members of congress that the combination had 
thus been carried into effect, and again appealed to me, was I going 
to submit to such indignity. I assured them I would not—and sent 
for Mr. Ingham, Governor Branch and Judge Berrien, to have an 
interview with them, they came, I faithfully detailed the facts 
above communicated to me, and wish to be informed whether 
they had entered into the combination communicated; that if they 
had, the indignity was offered to me and not to Major Eaton, that 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 173 


they well knew I had solicited Major Eaton to become a member of 
my cabinet and he had reluctantly yielded his assent, that they all 
had come in without any objections, and such a combination to 
drive him out of society was an insult to me which I would not 
suffer. They all declared they had no intention of the kind and 
would be the last to do any act with a view to the injury of Major 
Eaton and his family or lessen them in society. To which I re- 
plied, that I had too high regard for them to doubt their words, 
but the prediction had gone forth and the event having occured as 
predicted, it had gone forth to the world and the members of con- 
gress as tho intended and its evil effects were as great as tho it had 
been intended, and to prevent the like again, and to promote har- 
mony, it might be well that these parties might be given in a way 
not to produce such effect upon society as tho it was intended; 
that I had brought Major Eaton into the cabinet and I would part 
with every member in it before I would him and I was determined 
to have harmony in my cabinet or I would remove those that pro- 
duced the want of it, and if there were any that could not harmo- 
nize with Major Eaton they had better withdraw. Here Mr. 
Ingham remarked that he could not interfere or control his wife 
in her associates in society. I assured him I would be the last 
man in society that attempt to interfere in such matters, that it 
was the right of all to select their society, but all I wanted was 
harmony in my cabinet, that he and all others might rest assured 
that I never would part with Major Eaton nor should he be drove 
out of my cabinet by any combination that could or might be 
formed for that purpose, that I would remove the whole party. 
Again it was repeated by the gentlemen that they would be the 
last men who would do any act with a design or knowledge, thatit 
would injure Major Eaton or his family. Here the matter was 
left. How far they have acted agreeable to this pledge the people 
will judge. 


JACKSON TO MAJ. J. H. EATON. 


AIS ys) L830. 
“Private and for your own eye. 
“My dear Major: 


“I send my son to meet you at Judge Overtons, and to conduct 
you and your lady with our other friends to the Hermitage where 
you will receive that heartfelt welcome that you were ever wont 
todo. When my dear departed wife was living; her absence makes 
every thing here wear to me a gloomy and meloncholy aspect, but 
the presence of her old and sincere friend will cheer me amidst the 
meloncholy gloom with which I am surrounded. 

“My neighbors and connections will receive you and your lady 
with that good feeling that is due to you, and I request you and 
your lady will meet them with your usual courtesy, which is so well 
calculated to gain univeral applause even from enemies, and the 
united approbation of all friends. Our enemies calculate much 


174 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY ‘TENNESSEE History 


upon injuring me, by—raising the cry that I had forced Mr. A. J. 
Donelson from me, and compelled him to retire, because he would 
not yield to my views, which they call improper. I mean to be 
able to show that I only claimed to rule my household, that it 
should extend justice and common politeness to all and no more, 
and thus put my enemies in the wrong, and if any friends desert me 
that it is theirs, not my fault. 

“General Coffee has, since here, produced a visable, and sensible 
change in my connections, and they will all be here to receive you 
and your lady, who I trust will meet them with her usual courtesy 
and if a perfect reconciliation cannot take place, that harmony 
may prevail, and link broken in the Nashville conspiracy. 

“I trust you are aware that I will never abandon you or sep- 
arate {rom you, so long as you continue to practice those virtues 
that have always accompanied you, nor would I ask you, or any 
friend to pursue a course to compromet or be degrading to them- 
selves, or feelings—but I am anxious that we pursue such a course 
as will break down the Nashville combination, which I view as 
the sprouts of the Washington conspiracy. ‘This effected, and we 
have a peaceful administration, and when we have waded thro’ 
our official labours, a calm retirement. I wish us also to heap 
coals uuon the heads of our enemies, by returning good for evil. 
When I see you I have much to say to you. I have received letters 
from Major Haley and Peachlynn and a string of resolutions from 
the citizens of Mississippi, all of which will be presented to you 
when here. 

“With my compliments to your lady, Mr. B. and his, I am in 
haste. 
“Your friend, 


“Andrew Jackson. 
“Hermitage, August 3rd., 1380. 
“Major J. H. Eaton. 
Secretary of War.” 


JACKSON TO SAMUEL J. HAYES. 


‘Washington, december 7th, 1830. 
“My dear Sam’1:- 

“T inclose you my message this day delivered. It is published 
in the Globe. 

“T send for you Doctor Butler, Col. S. D. Hays and my friend 
Chester, this message is for you all, not having one for each, with 
the prospectus of the Globe. It is of the true faith, no nulification 
in the Globe. Patronize it. I will be happy to hear your opinion 
of the message and expect you all to patronize the Globe. The 
editor is the late editor of the Kentucky Argus, no nulifier but of 
the true faith. I will be happy to see you, and your dear wife here, 
with my namesake. Carolina is torn to pieces. I hope the steam 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 175 


will blow off without bursting a boiler, and that our friend Ham- 
ilton will be elected Governor, but all is doubtful, I would like to 
see Narcissa with you. Salutations to all. 
“Yours affectionately, 
oe: oa 
“Samuel J. Hays. 
“Jackson, Madison County, Western District, Tennessee. 


HUGH LAWSON WHITE TO JACKSON. 


“Flint Hill, April 20th, 1831. 
““My dear Sir :- 

“By the last mail I received your favor under date of the 9th. 
instant. Iam sorry that anything should have occured, to render 
it necessary that any of your cabinet should desire to withdraw, 
or that you should request them to do so. With Major Eaton I 
was intimately associated for several years, in the course of which 
I formed a sincere friendship for him, which I hope and expect will 
last as long as life is spared to me; and should he return to Ten- 
nessee, it will give me the most sincere pleasure to contribute all 
in my power to place him in any public station desired by him, 
or his friends. It ought not however to be concealed from him or 
you, that he will have difficulties to encounter with some of our 
friends, on account of some of his votes while in the Senate. With 
Jr. Van Buren I served several sessions and ever found him frank, 
candid and firm, in the course his judgment approved. His talents 
are unquestioned even by his bitter enemies. You are correct in 
placing me among the number of those who desired to withdraw 
you from your chosen retreat and to place you in the conspicuous 
station you now occupy. For this I had many reasons. First 
I wished to see the good old democratic doctrines practically 
restored to the Federal Government, and the modern doctrine of 
constructive powers abolished. With you at the head of the 
Government I believe this would be more likely to be effected, 
than with any other man. Secondly: I had some state pride. 
You were a Tennessean. Thirdly: I believe the public owed 
you more, for services actually rendered, than it did to any living 
man, and lastly you were my friend, and my father’s friend, and I 
wished to do any thing, and every thing in my power, consistent 
with my country’s good, to prove my unlimited confidence in your 
capacity for business, and in your integrity of character. Happily, 
as I think, for the people of the United States, we succeeded to the 
extent of our wishes, and thus far I have not been disappointed. 

“My dear Sir, your kind wishes towards me personally cannot 
be realized. Nothing would add more to my comfort than to be so 
near you as to have a constant personal inter-course with you so 
long as we both live; but I am a believer in the doctrine of the late 
Lord Littleton, “That every man who is fit for any public employ is 
a better Judge of what he is fitted for than any of his friends, and 
that he shows his weakness by permitting himself to be placed in a 


176 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


station for which he is not qualified.’ I am not qualified to dis- 
charge the duties of the office your partiality would confer upon me, 
and to qualify myself would require more labour than at this time 
of life could conveniently be submitted to. Again I must retain 
a home in Tennessee, and were I to go to Washington, my property 
would not only be unproductive but much of it wasted. Lastly 
Tam your personal and political friend, and from you cannot accept 
office. If I wished an office, within the gift of the President, 
it would be my heart’s desire that you should be displaced, be- 
cause from a man whose undeviating friendship I have experienced 
from boyhood to advanced Ilfe, I never can think of either asking 
or accepting office. In this rule of conduct my opinion is so firmly 
fixed, that nothing could induce me to depart from it, but a be- 
lief that unless the public could receive my services in some par- 
ticular office my country would sustain an injury. I have no idea 
that such a crisis has arrived, or ever will, in my day. Among 
your acquaintances there are many from whose services both you 
and the public would derive more benefit than any my humble 
abilities would enable me to render. With all the grateful feelings 
which a man ought to possess, for the honor your kindness would 
bestow I must be permitted to decline the offer you have made 
in such obliging terms, under a conviction that farther reflection 
will satisfy you that my non-acceptance was alike due to the public, 
to you, and to myself. 
“Vour sincere friend, 
“H. 1. Wihite 
“Andrew Jackson, Esq. 
“President of the United States. 
“Confidential. 


JACKSON TO HUGH LAWSON WHITE. 


“Washington, April 29th, 1831. 
““My dear Sir: 

“Your letters of the 18th and 20th are just received, your de- 
termination expressed in yours of the 20th has filled me with pain. 
I beg of you most seriously to reconsider it. The public confidence 
you possess in a most eminent degree. ‘This is every thing to the 
administration, your talents are as good as I wish them, you are 
well acquainted with our Indian affairs which is the most important 
branch of the war department, and no one I could get is half so 
well qualified as yourself as for the mere arrangement of the mil- 
itary branch, you have whatever aid I can afford and also the aid 
of Mr. Comb whose long experience in the military department 
will render that part of your duties easy. Your knowledge of law 
and your talents and acquirements will render the place easy to 
you. 

‘Had I time to bring to your view the circumstances with which 
I am surrounded the necessity, from actual experience, of having 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 177 


men round me in whom I can confide, and particularly one to whom 
I can freely unbosom myself I know would yield to my wishes. 

“The great principles of democracy which we have both at 
heart to see restored to the Federal Government, cannot be ac- 
complished unless a united cabinet who will labour to this end. 
The struggle against the rechartering of the United States Bank 
are to be met. The corrupting influence of the Bank upon the 
morals of the people and upon congress are to be met and fear- 
lessly met. Duff Green has violated his pledge on this subject and 
is neutralized—many who you would not have supposed, has secretly 
enlisted in its ranks and between bank men, nulifyers, and internal 
improvement men it is hard to get a cabinet who will unite with 
me heart and hand in the great task of Democratic reform in the 
administration of our Government. In this work if possible 
the Cabinet must be united, or the executive whilst labouring to 
effect it, some one of the cabinet may be secretly labouring with 
congress to prevent it from being carried into execution. 

““As it respects your domestic concerns that can be arranged so 
that you can visit it every year—and one of the two succeeding 
years I will agree to accompany you or at least take you up on my 
return and bring you with me here. I cannot do without you for 
the two first years, if you should become wearied by that time, 
then I will if continued here agree to spare you—but if you should 
now decline you derange all my well laid plans. Who can I get to 
fill the war office. I could get Col. Drayton perhaps, who may be 
in favor of rechartering the bank, acquainted with military matters, 
but unacquainted with Indian matters and whose appointment 
would arouse half of South Carolina and let it be remembered 
that he has been a strong Federalist. I like the man but I fear his 
politics—and having taken McLane (a Federalist) into the treas- 
ury I do not want to be compelled to take another—your refusal 
at present would produce and throw around me a laberinth of 
difficulties from which it would be hard to extricate myself. I 
will just add, if it had not been that I wanted your aid or that of 
Major Eaton I never would have permitted myself to have been 
here. I trust you will reconsider this matter, and answer me 
speedily that you will accept. I will be more than happy to have 
you under the same roof, and you have no friend but will say you 
ought to yield to my request. What a sacrifice I have made to the 
solicitations of my friends and what a sacrifice am I still making 
to the request of my country: and I trust you will not hesitate 
to make the one I have solicited. 

““(unsigned—perhaps a draft)” 


MAJOR ARMSTRONG TO JACKSON. 
“Knoxville, May 22d, 1831. 
“General Jackson. 
“Dear Sir:- 
“I reached here on saturday the 20th. Instant. On yester- 
day I visited Judge White. We had a long conversation on the 


12 


178 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


subject of his acceptance of the office of Secretary of War. I 
repeated to him the conversation between us. He read to me the 
answer to your second letter. I said to him that I was to write 
you and that nothing would be done until after you heard from me. 
He replied that he could say no more. That it would be like 
putting a torch to his happiness, and that the sacrafices would be 
indescribable. 

“But that if you did believe it necessary either for yourself or 
the country notwithstanding his own objections, he would accept. 
I told him of the feelings of Virginia—and of the great anxiety 
felt by all for his acceptance and said to him that I did believe 
that you would insist on it—because the crisis required it. 

“IT am much gratified to say that judging from any thing in 
traveling to this point your course meets the approbations of your 
friends and I hope all will be right. 

“T shall leave in a few days for the nation. 

“T have the honour to be your Obedient Servant. 


“FR. W. Armstrong. 
“°To the President of the United States.” 


HUGH LAWSON WHITE TO JACKSON. 


“Flint Hill, June 15th, 1831. 
‘“My dear friend: 

“Until Monday evening, I did not return from the west, your 
favor of the lst instant was therefore not received till yesterday. 
I mention this to account for the apparent neglect in not returning 
an immediate answer. 


‘““Major Armstrong detailed to you correctly the conversation 
he had with me, and nothing but the situation of my daughter 
should now prevent my acceptance of the office you have tendered 
on such flattering terms. Accompanied by her husband she has 
taken a journey to the west, with a hope that traveling might 
aid in throwing off a complaint threatening the worst results. 
At Judge Overtons they buried their little daughter, and upon 
their return I met them at Sparta. Her disease is, apparently 
making slow but sure progress towards a fatal termination. She 
is now at home so much enfeebled, that all hope of her recovery 
must, in my opinion, be abandoned. Were I to leave her for a 
residence in Washington, or elsewhere, and more especially were 
I to take with me her sister and brother, the only other survivors 
of my family, such a step, would I apprehend, be immediately 
fatal to her. 

“Should I accept under an expectation that an absence from 
Washington might be allowed, until her fate was decided, the 
nature of her complaint might make the time of my absence so 
protracted, that public opinion would condemn an indulgence so 
unreasonable. Under these circumstances I can do nothing but 
decline the office your kindness would confer. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 179 


“Had I desired an additional evidence of the sincerity and 
strength of your personal friendship and regard, it has been most 
amply furnished in relation to the office I am constrained to decline 
accepting; and should you for a moment believe I have made no 
suitable return, I beg you only to remember, that if I am worthy to 
be considered the friend of any man, I must have been experiencing 
the pangs of the dying, for a greater portion of the period, which 
has elapsed since the year 1825; and that from such a man but little 
effectual aid could be expected, even had I accepted. 

“Vour friend, 
“H. L. White. 
“Andrew Jackson, Esquire. 

‘President of the United States. 

“P.S. Until I saw it announced in the Globe of the 25th. May, 
that I had declined accepting, I had been perfectly silent on the 
subject, except in a letter to J. K. Polk, who I knew was safe. 
Since that publication, in answering the letters of friends, in several 
instances, I have mentioned the fact of having declined, and in 
some instances very briefly stated some of my principal reasons. 
However, these circumstances would not have created any dif- 
ficulty. 


DE Wilntes) 


JOHN C. McLEMORE TO JACKSON. 
“Private. 
“Post Office. 
“Nashville, September 25, 1832. 
“My dear Friend: 


“Your kind favor of the 23d, Instant handed by Mr. Chester 
is before me, nothing of consequence has occurred since you left 
us. Major Claiborne did not make his nullification speech as was 
expected on yesterday, and I am informed has declined discussing 
the subject before the Legislature. Indeed he is as far as I can 
learn entirelysilent. Attempts were made to draw him out with- 
out success. 

“Major Eaton is gaining ground, and will I am confident, be 
elected. Grundy is still loading the mails with letters to his 
. friends, to get up instructions to vote for him. We are writing 
letters too, to counteract his movements, and some of the members 
have already received counter instructions to vote for Eaton. 
Our friends are firm and decided, and I have no hesitation in as- 
suring you, that Eaton will be the Senator, or that there will be no 
election this session. The election is put off to Friday the 5th, day 
of October, and I have no doubt but that on that day John H. Eaton 
will be declared by the proper authority, duly and constitutionally 
Senator in congress &c. 

“T have just been informed, that certificates are about to be 
obtained, stating that you have no political prefference for Eaton, 


180 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


that it is merely a personal friendship entertained for him, and that 
politically you prefer Mr. Grundy. They will try to make much 
of this. I, you know can contradict this, and will do so wherever I 
meet it, but if you will write me a letter substantially such as is 
herewith.enclosed, the effect will be good. I may not use it but I 
wish to have it ready to be used by me with great caution. I feel 
intensely anxious for Eatons success and must guard every point, 
and I really think a letter similar to the one enclosed may be neces- 
sary to success. Write by the first mail, all our friends in good 
health. 
“Very sincerely 
“Your friend, 
“Jno. C. McLemore. 

“General Andrew Jackson. 

“‘Lexington Kentucky. 

‘““ I have just come in while McLemore is closing his letter. 
What he states is true. Grundy is saying that your opinions 
are not correctly represented; and that he would obtain certif- 
icates to show that your political desires are for him. 

“Letters to me tonight from Gallatin say that the fever is up 
since I came out, that all Grundy’s instruction men are turning 
over and in three days a majority of the county will direct Watkins 
and Boddie to vote against him. So much for his management of 
matters. 

i) Ba 


“G314Nd SI NOSHOVE AYSHM SOVLIANYSH SHL LY SIWOL AHL 


MPCGinhin 


FORO =O OPO RO POROFOAO OHO OHO OHO ORO HOHOHOROMOHOHOHOHOMOKOMOMOMOKORO HO 


| 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


CHAPTER 8. 


Poem on Andrew Jackson published in 1842 by W. 


Wallace, Esq.; address of Daniel Webster at 
New York Historical Society on death of Andrew 
Jackson; poem “Welcome to General Jackson’ 
by Mrs. Adams, quoted from Knoxville Re- 
gister of March 4, 1829; poem “Jackson” by 
Ella Bentley Arthur; poem “Memories of Gen- 
eral Jackson” published Auburn, New York, 
1845; poem “The Hero Sleeps,’ Auburn, New 
York, 1845; editorial on Mrs Rachel Jackson 
in Knoxville Register May 27, 1829; action of 
the Board of Aldermen of Knoxville, December 
29, 1828, on the death of Mrs. Jackson; ‘Dirge 
to the Memory of Mrs. Jackson,” by Dr. James 
McHenry, Refutation of charges on Mrs. Jack- 
son in 1827; action of Nashville authorities on 
her death; Adjutant General's report on Gen- 
eral John Coffee; Gov. C. C. Claiborne to Gen. 
Coffee; Gen. Coffee's reply; letters from Jackson. 


“STAR OF THE WEST! whose steadfast light 

Sparkles above our troubled sea, 

Well may the watcher of the night 
Turn with a trusting heart to thee— 

To thee, whose strong hand steered the bark 
When all around was wild and dark, 

And bent the white wing of the mast, 
That trembled, like a thing of fear 

Within the tempest’s thunder-blast, 
Before its haven-rest is near. 


“Undying ray! unfading flame, 
Of glory set within our skies, 
Forever burning there the same, 
Above a nation’s destinies, 
And linked with all the noble band 
Of Freedom worship in their Ind, 
Whose rolling streams and rugged sod 
Still, still no monarch own but God! 
Beam on! Beam on! while millions turn 
To where thy lofty splendors burn, 
Like seraph-wings, whose rainbow plumes, 
From Heaven’s far battlement unfurl’d, 
Shine grandly through the fearful glooms 
That pall a sun-deserted world! 


“CHIEF OF THE BRAVE! ’'Twas thine to wield 
Resistless arms in battle-field! 
Twas thine to give the gallant blow 


181 


Bes] eee] ae ses eee 


Ge FO RRO RU RO PO POPUP OPO POPUP Ree pO oP RPP PPO Poo eee 


be 


182 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


That struck the lion-standard low! 
E’en as a mighty harp with strings 
Thrilling beneath the tempest’s wings, 
So thrilled the nation’s soul, when thou 
Trampled the foe beneath thy feet, 
And saw, victorious o’er thy brow 
Unfurled, Columbia’s glory-sheet. 


“‘Oh! when the storms of Treason lower 

O’er freedom’s consecrated tower, 
And that for which the grey-haired sire 

With boyhood gladly gave his life, 
Shall wither fast beneath the fire 

Of wild Ambition’s demon-strife; 
The Patroit then shall boldly start, 

With kindled eye and swelling heart, 
Murmur devotedly thy name, 

Rush where the ranks of Treachery stand, 
And fearless quench the unholy flame 

Lit on the altars of our land. 


“What though around thy brow sublime 
We see the snowy wreath of Time! 
Aye! let the very marble rest, 
Old Chieftain! on thy mouldering breast— 
Thy spirit bravely flashing out, 
Like the bright Grecian torch of old 
By mailed warriors hurled about, 
Shall beam on centuries untold. 


“Long as a Hero’s grave shall be 
A Cherished altar for the free— 
Ah! dearer far, and more divine, 
Than Persian orb or orient shrine— 
Long as the River, by whose wave 
Thou led’st the armies of the brave, 
Shall, in the shades of the evening dim, 
Echo the anthem of the sea, 
And mingle with its solemn hymn 
The ancient songs of liberty. 


Long as the spirits of the blest 

Shall hover o’er each patriot’s sleep, 
True as those planets of the west 

That watch the shut eyes of the Deep; 
Long as our starry banner flies 

On dashing seas, through azure skies, 
A radiant hope from heaven displayed 

To all who groan in tyrant-chains, 
That still, despite of throne and blade, 


For them a brighter lot remains. 
So long, Oh! Soldier-Patroit-Sage, 

so long, unterrified, sublime, 
Shalt thou, unheeding envy’s rage, 
Tower up, the land-mark of our age, 

The noblest glory of thy time! 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 183 


REMARKS OF HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, AT THE MEETING OF 
THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ON THE DEATH 
OF GENERAL JACKSON. 


“Nothing could be more natural or proper than that this Society 
should take a respectful notice of the decease of so distinguished 
a member of its body. Accustomed occasionally to meet the 
Society, and to enjoy the communications that are made to it, 
and proceed from it, illustrative of the history of the country and 
its government, I have pleasure in being present at this time also, 
and on this occasion, in which an element so mournful mingles 
itself. General Andrew Jackson has been from an early period 
conspicuous in the service and in the councils of the country, 
though not without long intervals, so far as respects his con- 
nections with the general government. It is fifty years, I think, 
since he was a member of the Congress of the United States, and 
at the instant, sir, I do not know whether there be living an as- 
sociate of General Jackson in the House of Representatives of the 
United States at that day, with the exception of the distinguished 
and venerable gentlemen who is now President of this Society. 
I recollect only of the Congress of ‘96, at this moment now living, 
but one—Mr. Gallatin—though I may be mistaken. General 
Jackson, Mr. President, while he Ilved, and his memory and char- 
acter, now that he,is deceased, are presented to his country and 
the world in different views and relations. He was a soldier— a 
general officer—and acted no unimportant part in that capacity. 
He was raised by repeated elections to the highest stations in the 
civil government of his country, and acted a part certainly not 
obscure or unimportant in that character and capacity. 


“In regard to his military services, I participate in the general 
sentiment of the whole country, and I believe of the world. That 
he was a soldier of dauntless courage—great daring and perse- 
verance—an officer of skill and arrangement and foresight, are 
truths universally admitted. During the period in which he 
administered the General Government of the country, it was my 
fortune, during the whole period of it, to be a member of the Con- 
* gress of the United States, and as it is well known, it was my mis- 
fortune not to be able to concur with many of the most important 
measures of his administration. Entertaining himself, his own 
view, and with a power of impressing his own views to a remarkable 
degree, upon the conviction and approbation of others, he pursued 
such a course as he thought expedient in the circumstances in 
which he was placed. Entertaining on many questions of great 
importance, different opinions, it was of course my misfortune to 
differ from him, and that difference gave me great pain, because, 
in the whole course of my public life, it has been far more agreeable 
to me to support the measures of the Government than be called 
upon by my judgement and sense of what is to be done to oppose 
them. I desire to see the Government acting with an unity of 


184 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


spirit in all things relating to its foreign relations, especially, and 
generally in all great measures of domestic policy, as far as is © 
consistant with the exercise of perfect independence among its 
members. But if it was my misfortune to differ from General 
Jackson on many, or most of the great measures of his admin- 
istrations, there were occasions, and those not unimportant, in 
which I felt it my duty, and according to the highest sense of the 
duty, to conform to his opinions, and support his measures. There 
were junctures in his administration—periods which I thought 
proper to adopt, corresponded entirely with my sentiment in re- 
gard to the protection of the best interests of the country, and the 
institutions under which we live; and it was my humble endeavor 
on these occasions to yield to his opinions and measures, the same 
cordial support as if I had not differed from him before, and ex- 
pected never to differ from him again. 

“That General Jackson was a marked character — that he 
had a very remarkable influence over other men’s opinions—that 
he had great perseverance and resolution in civil as well as in 
military administration, all admit. Nor do I think that the can- 
did among mankind will ever doubt that it was his desire—mingled 
with whatsoever portion of a disposition to be himself instrumental 
in that exaltation—to elevate his country to the highest prosperity 
and honor. ‘There is one sentiment, to which I particularly recur, 
always with a feeling of approbation and gratitude. From an 
earlier period of his undertaking to administer the affairs of the 
government, he uttered a sentiment dear to me—expressive of 
truth of which I am most profoundly convinced—a sentiment 
setting forth the necessity, the duty, and the patriotism of main- 
taining the union of these states. Mr. President, I am old enough 
to recollect the deaths of all the Presidents of the United States who 
have departed this life, from Washington down. ‘There is no doubt 
that the death of an individual, who has been so much the favorite 
of his country, and partaken so largely of its regard as to fill that ~ 
high office, always produce—has produced, hitherto, a strong 
impression upon the public mind. That is right. It is right 
that such should be the impression upon the whole community, 
embracing those who particularly approved, and those who did 
not particularly approve the political course of the deceased.. 


‘‘All these distinguished men have been chosen of their country. 
They have fulfilled their station and duties upon the whole, in the 
series of years that have gone before us, in a manner reputable and 
distinguished. Under their administration, in the course of fifty 
or sixty years, the government, generally speaking, has prospered, 
and under the government, the people have prospered. It becomes, 
then, all to pay respect when men thus honored are called to anoth- 
er world. Mr. President, we may well indulge the hope and belief 
that it was the feeling of the distinguished person who is the subject 
of those resolutions, in the solemn days and hours of closing life— 
that it was his wish, if he had committed a few or more errors in the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 185 


administration of the government, their influence might cease 
with him; and that whatever of good he had done, might be per- 
‘petuated. Let us cherish the same sentiment. Let us act upon 
the same feeling; and whatever of true honor and glory he ac- 
quired, let us all hope that it will be his inheritance forever! And 
whatever of good example, or good principle, or good administra- 
tion he has established, let us hope that the benefit of it may also 
be perpetual.”’ 


MRS. ADAMS‘ WELCOME TO GENERAL JACKSON. 
(Knoxville Register, March 4th 1829.) 


“‘A Welcome, Chieftain, to these halls; 
The doors are opening joyously— 

And loud the voice of Millions calls 
Thee to thy glorious destiny; 

A welcome, Patriot, to this dome, 
Where Care before thee long a guest 

Hath made these marble walls its home 
And broke the hours of balmy rest. 


“‘Come—on Fame’s sounding pinion borne 
The guardian eagle’s sun-bright wing, 
With laurels thou hast justly worn, 
Come to a nation’s welcoming; 
And let the star sown banner wave, 
O’er him of Orleans, sternly good, 
Who sent the Lion to his grave, 
Where Mississippi rolls its flood. 


‘°'Tis meet for thee to stand where first 
Immortal Washington arose, 
His brow still dark with battle dust 
And vengeance to his countrys foes— 
But where is she—the better one— 
On whom to lean thy weary head, 
When toils and council cares have done, 
And thou hast sought a quiet bed? 


““Pale—Pale—as glory’s coronet, 

When she the lov’d one cold in death, 
Hath seen the earth’s bright sunbeams set, 

And dawn, in other words, her breath; 
Ah, Chieftain; here thy banner clings 

In sadness round the standard spear— 
Nor gives its empire drapery wings 

To gild a world’s wide admosphere. 


“JACKSON“ 


“‘He stands in grim relief against the dark 
And bloody era of his troublous time 

Like some stark pine, gaunt and of rugged bark 
Etched on the red west of a Southern Clime. 


“‘He fought with valor and he fought with brain; 
Rough-hewn, but modeled on a hero’s plan, 
And thus posterity sums up his Fame— 
A general—a soldier—and a Man. 
--Ella Bentley Authur. 


186 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


FROM “MEMORIAL OF GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON.” 
AUBURN, NEW YORK, 1845. 


“Weep, Columbia, weep; 
Breathe once again the note 
Of sorrow, stern and deep, 
Wide o’er the land to float, 
He rests-the Hero-Sage; 
His earthly toils are o’er, 
And History’s golden page 
Shall wait for him no more. 


“’’'Tis closed—his book of life 
Is full—his race is run; 
With fame and honor rife— 
His work forever done. 
But while in sadness here, 
We heave an earth-born sigh— 
He lives, where not a tear 
Shall flow—no more to die. 


“‘He lives mid spirits free, 
Who toil’d with him in life, 
That God and Liberty 
Crowned in that holy strife, 
For them a nation wept 
At Freedom’s sacred shrine; 
In glory they too slept, 
Where he, with them, will shine. 


“Vet shall the patriot’s name 
Be cherished by the free; 
In every soil his fame 
Shall dwell with Liberty; 
But vainly o’er his grave 
A sorrowing nation weeps, 
Her banners drooping wave— 
For aye, the Hero sleeps. 


“‘Her booming guns may roar, 
The clang of armor come, 
Her eagle proudly soar * 
Up towards his spirit-home, 
His country long may weep 
His glorious setting sun, 
It will not break his sleep— 
His deeds of might are done. 


“THE HERO SLEEPS. 


“Go bring his battle blade 
His helmet and his plume; 

And be his trophies laid 
Beside him in the tomb. 


“Green be the willow bough 
Above the swelling mound, 

While sleeps the hero now 
[n consecrated ground; 

When files of time-worn veterans come 
With martial trump and muffled drun. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 187 


MRS. RACHEL DONELSON JACKSON. 
(Editorial Knoxville Register, May 27, 1829.) 


“As the lamented and much injured partner of our President- 
elect has been the subject of cold blooded calumny and manly 
defense, and as she has now gone to her long home where the 
‘Wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest,’ perhaps 
some account of the last scene of her earthly pilgrimage may not 
be uninteresting to a feeling community. 

“After its publication, Mrs. Jackson was early made acquainted 
with the libel upon her good name. The effect that such an attack 
would have upon a lady of sensitive character, one too, whose life 
had been devoted to deeds of charity and benevolence, may easily 
be conceived. She supported herself under it, however, until 
the excitement produced by the late contest was over. From that 
moment her energy subsided, her spirit drooped and her health 
declined. She has been heard to speak but seldom since. 

“Having been drawn into conversation by a friend about a 
fortnight before her death, she remarked that although she had 
lived with Mr. Jackson nearly forty years, there had never been 
an unkind word between them, and the only subject on which they 
ever differed, or, where there was the slightest opposition, was 
his acceptance of appointments when conferred upon him, she 
being always unwilling for him to enter upon public life. 

““She was the woman whom General Jackson was called upon to 
separate from at a moment of all others the most trying. 

“Although the weather was unfavorable, her friends assembled 
from every point, where the melancholy tidings had been received, 
to pay the last tribute of respect to one who could be-friend them no 
more. 

“When the hour of interment drew nigh, the General, who had 
not left the corpse, was informed that it was time to perform the 
last sad rites. The scene that then ensued is beyond description. 
There was no heart that did not ache, no eye that did not weep. 


“The writer was informed by many of the officers present, who 
had shared with the General in his difficulties and dangers, who had 
seen him in the most trying situations, who had eyed him when his 
gallant soldiers were suffering for food to sustain them in life and 
he unable to relieve them, who had witnessed him on the battle- 
field when the wounded and dying were brought before him, and 
every muscle seemed moved and his very frame agonized with 
sorrow, but no suffering however poignant or excessive, could 
compare with the late affliction. Then he bade his final adieu to 
the last kindred link that bound him to the earth, his Roman 
fortitude seemed for a time to be completely over-come. It wasa 
soul rending sight to see an old veteran whose head whitened by 
the hardships he had endured for his country bending over the 
lifeless body of an affectionate wife, whose death was hastened by 
the cruelty of those whose rights he had so nobly defended. 


188 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“By a muscular and almost superhuman effort, he endeavored 
the check of the current of his grief, and waving his hand to the 
afflicted company begged them to weep no more. I know, said he, 
‘tis unmanly but these tears were due to her virtues. She shed 


+o, oe 


many for me. There was but one wish pervaded the assembly— | 


that the individuals who had hastened this scene by their relentless 
attack on an unoffending woman could be brought to witness the 
saddest spectacle that any present had ever beheld.” ° 


RESPECT TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. JACKSON. 


(Knoxville Register, December 31, 1828.) 


“At a meeting of the Board of Alderman of the town of Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, on the 29th day of December 1828. 

Col. S. D. Jacobs submitted the following preamble and res- 
olutions, which were unanimously adopted and ordered to be 
placed on Record. 

‘Having learned with feelings of the most painful regret the 
inteligence of the death of Mrs. Jackson, the amiable and much 
respected consort of General Jackson, and being desirous to man- 
ifest our feelings on this unexpected and distressing occasion as 
well with regard to the estimation in which we hold the exemplary 
virtues and amiable character of Mrs. Jackson, as to express our 
sincere condolence with her bereaved husband, on whom the hand 
of Providence has dispensed his sore affliction at a time when age 
and the peculiar circumstances of his situation rendered her ex- 
istance particularly dear and desirable, therefore, 

‘“‘Resolved, that while we deeply regret the death of Mrs. Jack- 
son we cannot but express our gratitude to the Supreme Governor 
of the universe that she was not taken from time to eternity until 
the people of the Union had given a clear and distinct manifestation 
of the high estimation in which they held the reputation of herself 
and her husband. 

“Resolved, That, in consequence of the death of Mrs. Jackson 
the Mayor be directed to request the Rev. Thos. H. Nelson, to 
preach a sermon, suitable to the occasion in the First Presbyterian 
Church at 11 o’clock A. M. on Thursday the Ist day of January 
next. 

‘Resolved, That, the inhabitants of Knoxville be respectfully 
requested to attend Church and abstain from their ordinary bus- 
iness on Thursday the Ist day of January next, as a tribute to 
respect to the memory of the deceased. 


“Joseph C. Strong, Mayor. 


“Will Swan, Recorder 
‘December 29, 1828.” 


MRS. ANDREW JACKSON. 
Photographed from Painting by Earle. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


DIRGE TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. JACKSON. 
By Dr. James McHenry, 1829. 


“Tn sorrow sunk beside the mournful bier 
Of her who long had blest his bright career, 
Th’ illustrious chosen of his country, see, 
In meekness bending to the stern decree. 
View there a struggle which all hearts must move, 
The hero’s firmness with the husband’s love. 
Freemen; ’tis he whose spirit, prompt and brave, 
On patriot pinions flew your realm to save; 
’Tis he whose hand, conducting vic’try’s car, 
Crushed your invaders on the field of war; 
Who when the fierce appalling strife was o’er, 
Which shook the land, and danger was no more; 
Contented with his country’s thanks, retired 
To rural shades, nor pomp nor power desired. 
But well his worth his grateful country knew; 
No secret shades could hide it from her view; 
And to its proper sphere, with loud acclaim, 
She drew it forth, and crowned her Jackson’s fame. 


“But what is power or splendor to his heart, 
Now doomed from all that formed his bliss to part? 
In vain around his brow a wreath is twined, 
The fairest ever worn by human kind, 
While the loved mem’ry of that lost one dwells 
Fresh in his soul, and all his sorrow swells. 
And well to him her mem’ry may be dear; 
Round him she clung with holy faith sincere; 
Her pride, her stay, her lover and her lord, 
And only less than Heaven itself adored. 


She loved the manly heart that made her blest, 

She loved the patriot flame that warmed his breast, 
She loved the toils that could his virtures wake, 

She loved ev’n glory for her husband’s sake. 
For well she knew that he was glory’s heir, 

Though envy scoffed, and slander did not spare. 
His noblest deeds, though viperous tongues assailed, 

While faction triumphed, and deceit prevailed, 
She fondly hoped the glorious day to see, 

When truth would vanquish factious calumny. 
Oh shame to manhood! that our times have seen 

Monsters possessed of man’s uplifted mein, 
Whose hearts the base, unfeeling tale could frame, 

That tried to blast so pure a being’s fame! 
Alas! we know them, heartless as they are, 

With feeling, truth and manliness at war, 
Who but to gratify a factious end, ‘ 

The poisoned shafts to woman’s heart could send! 
And thine, much injured and lamented fair, 

’ Twas thine the torture of those shafts to bear, 
Until a generous nation nobly rose, 

And hurled disgrace and ruin on thy foes. 
Then to the world, with unstrained lustre, shone 

Thy honored husband’s‘virtures and thy own, 
While shrunk the vile assailants of thy fame, 

From public scorn, in terror and in shame. 
How fervently, in that auspicious hour, 

Thy thankful bosom blest th’ immortal Power, 
Whose voice the justice of thy country woke, 

And truth in thunder to thy slanderers spoke! 


189 


190 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


Oh, ’twas to generous minds an hour of pride, 
When injured innocence was justified, 
And merit drawn from its concealing shade, 
To be with honor, fame and power repaid! 
Then was the triumph of the patriot wife, 
Which filled with ample joy her cup of life. 
“Tt is enough!”’ th’ illustrious matron cried; 
And blessed her country, praised her God, and—died! 


REFUTATION. 
KNOXVILLE REGISTER, MAY 9, 1827. 


“Harrodsburg, April 16th, 1827. 
‘‘Gentlemen: 

“‘Impelled by feelings which I trust the most embittered partizan 
will not condemn, I enclose you several letters elicited by enquiries 
made by myself and statements obtained by others who felt indig- 
nant at the wrong done by the late attacks on the private char- 
acter of General Jackson and his wife. You are authorized to 
make such use of them as you think proper. I have reserved 
copies which I shall forward to Tennessee, when, as speedily as 
practicable, a reply will be made to every point of the charge in- 
volving the early conduct of the General towards his much injured 
lady. “Respectfully, 

““*T. PL Moore: 
“Messrs. Kendall and Johnston.” 


THOS. ALLIN’S STATEMENT. 


“Harrodsburg, March 31,°1827. 
“Dear Major: 

‘“‘In compliance with your wishes, expressed in yours of yesterday, 
it may not be improper to inform you, that in the fall of 1781, 
I made my place of residence in Lincoln County, (now Mercer) 
where I have continued to live ever since. I think it was in1782, 
not later than 1783, (but I think the former) I became a deputy 
sheriff in Lincoln, and acquainted with Col. Donaldson, and his 
family. The Colonel had then two daughters, young ladies, viz: 
Jane and Rachel, the latter of whom I understand, is the lady of 
General Andrew Jackson. 

‘Sometime shortly after my acquaintance in the family, Miss 
Rachel became the wife of Capt. Lewis Roberts, of the same coun- 
ty, who then lived in the family of his mother, a widow lady near 
Harrodsburg, where he brought his wife, and continued to live 
with her, in the family of his mother, until some disagreement took 
place between the Captain and his wife which resulted in a sep- 
aration, and the Captain sent her to her fathers, who previous to 
that separation had removed to the neighborhood of Nashville, 
Tennessee, as I was informed, and where I presume she first saw 
and became acquainted with Gen. Jackson. I never saw Gen. 
Jackson in my life to my knowledge, nor have I any reason to 
believe, nor do I believe, that Mrs. Jackson ever was acquainted 
with the General until after her separation from Roberts and her 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 191 


atrival at her fathers in Tennessee. Capt. Roberts obtained a 
special act of the Virginia Legislature for a divorce I think in the 
fall of the year 1787, and prosecuted the same to judgement in the 
quarter sessions of Mercer County, (of which court I was clerk) 
at the September term of said court, 1793. About that time 
Capt. Roberts married a Miss Winn, daughter of Mr. Thomas 
Winn, then, I think of Louisville or Bardstown. I was much 
sur prised when the separation took place between Capt. Roberts 
and his first wife, as previous to that affair, I had ever considered 
Mrs. Roberts, (now Mrs. Jackson) a fine woman, and of irreproach- 
able character. Upon an examination of the papers of the suit 
for the divorce aforesaid, I find nothing showing that the defendent 
had any kind of notice of the existence of progress of that suit. 
Should you consider anything I have communicated, worth notice, 
you are at liberty to use it in any way you may think proper. 
“Your friend etc., 
“Thos. Allin. 


“Maj. T. P. Moore.” 
GENERAL RAY’S STATEMENT. 
“Harrodsburg, April 13, 1827. 
“Dear Sir: 

In answer to your inquiries in relation to a publication in the 
last Spirit of ‘76, involving the character of Mrs. Jackson, in which 
I am referred to as being ‘one of the jury’ who found a verdict 
against her, I say that it is utterly untrue. I was well acquainted 
with Mrs. Jackson previous to her first marriage with Mr. Lewis 
Roberts, and for several years afterwards and I can assure you she 
sustained an unblemished character, and was considered one among 
the first of our young ladies; her father Col. Donalson, being a man 
of the most respectable standing. 

“After her marriage with Mr. Roberts, a disagreement took 
place between her and her-husband, on account of a charge of 
immoral conduct on his part, and also his becoming jealous of a 
certain individual (not General Jackson) which eventuated in her 
being compelled to return to her mother’s, who had in the mean- 
time removed to the State of Tennessee, where her father died 
or was killed by the Indians. I was intimate with Mr. Roberts 
and after the separation, in a conversation with him, he admitted 
to me that his suspisions were unjust, and he expressly acquitted 
her of any illicit intercourse with the individual suspected. 

““As to General Jackson, I am of the opinion he never saw her 
previous to her separation from Mr. Roberts, and the divorce, 
I believe, was obtained, entirely exparte. An act of the Virginia 
Legislature was passed at the instance of the well known Capt. 
Jack Jouitt, then a member of that body, and a brother-in-law of 
Mr. Roberts, (having married his sister) and with out any notice, 
as I believe, to Mrs. Roberts, but of this, I suppose, Maj. Thos 
Allin who was the clerk of the court, can speak. 


192 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“For my part, I consider Mrs. Jackson most unjustly and 
_ungenerously slandered. I am well acquainted with most of the 
circumstances, and regret to see the whole transaction, misrep- 
resented. I have always believed that Mr. Roberts had no person 
to blame but his own improper conduct and jealousy, I knew him 
well, but do not wish to enter into a detail of facts, calculated to 
wound the feeling of his respectable relations and friends. 

“T am myself for General Jackson as next President and wish 
‘The spirit of ‘76’ not again to refer to me without authority, as . 
I consider the attack on Mrs. Jackson as ungenerous, unmanly and 
unjust. 

‘‘Yours with respect, 
“James Ray. 
“Major T. P. Moore, Harrodsburg.”’ 
MR. JOHN McGINNIS’S STATEMENT. 

“Mr. John McGinnis states, that he lived for sometime in the 
immediate neighborhood of Mrs. Betsey Roberts, the mother of 
Lewis Roberts, the former husband of the present Mrs. Jackson, 
that Roberts and his wife then lived with old Mrs. Roberts, that 
Lewis Roberts was generally considered by the neighbors a bad 
husband that his mother acknowledged that Rachel Roberts was 
an amiable woman, and deserved better treatment, that she in 
fact loved her as well as any child she ever raised, that old Mrs. 
Roberts, told this affiant a short time before Mrs. R. Roberts 
left her husband for the purpose of returning to her mother’s in 
‘Tennessee, that her son had ordered his wife to clear herself, and 
never again show her face in his house, that she appeared for 
sometime before she returned to her mother to be an unhappy and 
miserable woman, but finally her brother came to Kentucky and 
carried her off to her friends in Tennessee. He states explicity 
that he never heard of General Jackson being in the neighborhood, 
and that he believes that General Jackson never visited the house 
of Lewis Roberts during the time that they lived together, that 
Roberts wife sustained a fair and irreproachable character, as 
long as this affiant knew her. 

“This day personally appeared before me, a justice of the 
peace for the county of Mercer, the within named John McGinnis, 
and made oath to the truth of the within statement. Given under 
my hand this 13th April, 1827. 

“George W. Thompson.” 


JOHN MEAUX STATEMENT. 


‘To all whom it may concern, be it known that in the year 
1784, I lived at Col. John Bowman’s station in the then county of 
Lincoln, now Mercer, and have continued to live in Mercer County 
ever since. Whilst I lived at Col. Bowman’s I became acquainted 
with Col. Donalson and his family, who lived then near Col. Bow- 
man’s. Col. Donalson at that time had two ‘single daughters, 
young women, to wit: Jane and Rachel, the latter of whom I under- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 193 


stand is the present Mrs. Jackson, the lady of General Andrew 
Jackson of the State of Tennessee. I continued to be intimately 
acquainted with Col. Donalson and his daughters until the younger, 
Rachel, was married to Capt. Lewis Roberts, and for some time 
afterwards, when some unhappy difference arose between Capt. 
Roberts and his lady, which terminated in a separation between 
them, and when Mrs. Roberts went to her father’s who had prev- 
ious to that time removed to the State of Tennessee near Nashville. 
Previous to that separation, I have ever considered that lady’s 
character as fair and irreproachable as that of any other lady I 
ever knew in my life, nor have I any reason to believe that General 
Jackson ever saw her until after her separation from Roberts. 
I recollect being one of the jury when Roberts obtained his divorce, 
but have not the most distant recollection what evidence was 
offered on the trial. 
“John Meaux. 

“April 16th, 1827.” 


EDITORIAL FROM THE NASHVILLE REPUBLICAN NOV. 26, 1829. 


“DiED:-On the 22nd instance at the Hermitage and in the 
62nd year of her age, Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of Andrew Jackson, 
President-elect of the United States. Her health, which had for 
some months been more delicate than usual, became seriously 
impaired about a week ago, by the fatigue of a long walk. She 
was attacked with alarming spasms in the chest, which after 
remitting and recurring for a few days, became transferred to the 
heart, and in a moment of apparent convalescence, terminated 
without a groan or struggle her well spent life. 

“This melancholy event, which has visited her family with 
unspeakable sorrow, and clothed our community in sadness, will 
excuse the following faint and brief notice which though far 
inferior to the dignity of her virtues, is the best offering we can 
make to her beloved and venerated memory. The history of 
Mrs. Jackson, from her early years, is closely and (considering 
her sex) remarkably connected with the history of our country. 
Her father Col. John Donalson, who was a gentleman of fortune, 
probity and enterprise, removed with his family while she was 
yet a child, from Pittsylvania County, Va. (the place of her birth), 
to the Western County, and settled in this neighborhood on the 
banks of the Cumberland. Surrounded by the dangers which our 
brave pioneers had to encounter, he was killed in the prime of 
manhood and the flush of success by the Indians in Kentucky. 
At the time General Jackson came to this country, she was residing 
with her widowed mother and in August 1791 she became his wife. 
His well known hardships and perils in our Indian and English 
wars, his distant and dangerous campaigns, his frequent battles 
and triumps, made her a silent but anxious sharer in the dangers 
and glories of the nation, and many of her relatives, following the 
standard of her martial husband gave her more painful interest in 


1 


194 ANDREW JACKSON AND Ear.y TENNESSEE HisToRY 


our struggles. General Coffee, the husband of her niece, was 
always in the front of the battle, and her nephew, Alexander Don- 
alson fell gloriously fighting by his side. 

“In the recent political contest which has terminated so for- 
tunately for the institutions of our country, and so honorably for 
the illustrious partner of her heart, the same connection subsisted. 
In order to obstruct his course to just popularity and rightful 
power, she was made the object of injuries more barbarous than 
murderous savages could inflict. And Providence, after permitting 
her to witness the downfall and confusion of those who patronized ~ 
and those who committed these atrocities, gently withdrew her 
wounded spirit to the mansions of eternal bliss, ‘where the wicked 
cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.’ Even after death, 
the course of public feeling is blended with her name. The honors 
with which it was intended to commemorate on the same day a 
national victory, and the triumphant election of General Jackson, 
were suspended forby her fate and exchanged by a patriotic people 
for the public expressions of respect for her virtties and regret 
for her departure. And those who in the evening had expected 
to salute her with joy and gratulation, hurried next morning'to look 
for the last time on her inanimate countenance, and to follow 
her cold remains to the tomb. Piety and age, innocence and 
childhood, the brave and the fair, the humble and the exalted, 
mingled their tears and blessings around her grave, and attested 
in accents of deep and spontaneous sorrow, in sobs of affection 
converted into agony by the awful presence of death, her endearing 
merits and her exemplary life. 

“In the character of this excellent and lamented lady, feminine 
charms, domestic virtues and Christian perfections were united. 
Her person in youth was beautiful, her manner was always en- 
gaging, her temper cheerful, her sensibility delicate and mild. 
She was a tender wife, an affectionate friend, a benignant mis- 
tress, a generous relation, a kind neighbor and a humble Christian. 
Her pure and gentle breast, in which a selfish, guileful or malicious 
thought never found entrance, was the throne of benevolence 
and under its noble influence, her faculties and time were con- 
stantly devoted to the exercise of hospitality and to acts of kind- 
ness. ‘To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to supply the in- 
digent, to raise the humble, to notice the friendless and to com- 
fort the unfortunate, were her favorite occupations; nor could the 
kindness of her soul be repressed by distress or prosperity, but 
like those fountains which rising in deep and secluded valleys, 
flow on in the frost of winter and through summer’s heat, it main- 
tained a uniform and refreshing current. Thus she lived, and 
when death approached, her patience and resignation were equal 
to her goodness, not an impatient gesture, not a vexatious look, 
not a fretful accent escaped her, but her last breath was charged 
with an expression of tenderness for the man whom she loved more 
than her life and honored next to her God.”’ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 195 


ACTION OF NASHVILLE CITY AUTHORITIES. 


The following were the resolutions adopted on the occasion, 
by the committee of arrangements and the Mayor and Aldermen of 
the City: 


“The committee appointed by the citizens of Nashville, to 
superintend the reception of General Jackson on this day, with 
feelings of deep regret, announce to the public that Mrs. Jackson 
departed this life last night between the hours of ten and eleven 
o'clock. 

“Respect for the memory of the deceased, and a sincere con- 
dolence with him on whom this providential affliction has fallen, 
forbid the manifestations of public regard intended for the day. 

“Tn the further consideration of the painful and unexpected 
occasion which has brought them together, the committee feel 
that it is due to the exemplary virtues and exalted character of the 
deceased, that some public token should be given of the high 
regard entertained towards her whilst living. They have therefore 
resolved ; 

“That it be respectfully recommended to their fellow-citizens 
of Nashville, in evidence of this feeling, to refrain on to-morrow 
from the ordinary pursuits of life. 

“Josiah Nichol. Chairman. 
“December 23rd. 

“The Committee in behalf of the Citizens having determined 

that it is:proper to abstain from the business tomorrow, therefore, 


“Resolved, That the inhabitants of Nashville are respectfully 
invited to abstain from their ordinary business on tomorrow, as 
a mark of respect for the memory of Mrs. Jackson, and that the 
Church bells be tolled from 1 until 2 o’clock, being the hour of 
her funeral. 

“Felix Robertson, Mayor”’ 
“EF. Dibrell, Recorder.” 


GENERAL JOHN COFFEE AND FAMILY. 
GOVERNOR WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE 
TO 
GENERAL JOHN COFFEE. 


“February 25, 1815. 
“Sir: 

“Tt affords me the greatest pleasure to enclose you a resolution 
of the general assembly of Louisiana, acknowledgeing the faithful 
and useful services of our western brothers, and tendering their 
thanks to you amoung our distinguished officers. 

“The love of country, which unduced you to change the calm of 
domestic life for the privations incident to a camp, is no less ardent 
in the brave volunteers whom you lead than the gratitude which 


196 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the people of Louisiana bear towards them; a heroic band, whose 
firmness in the field has alike contributed to avert from our settle- 
ments the horrors of an Indian warfare, and to the entire defeat 
and discomfiture of the powerful foe, who so, arrogantly menaced 
the safety of this great and growing city. 


“Receive for yourself, and be toward your companions in arms 
the organ of expressing the highest confidence and sincerest good 
will. 


“Wm. C. C. Claiborne. 


GENERAL COFFEE’S REPLY. 


“Camp Coffee, near New Orleans, 


“March 4th, 1815. 

ire 
“T have the honor of acknowledge the receipt of your letter 
of the 25th ultimo, and the resolution it enclosed from the leg- 
islature of Louisiana, presenting the thanks of that honourable 
body, to their brother soldiers from the west, for, ‘the share they 
have taken in the defense of this country, and the harmony they 
have maintained with the inhabitants and malitia of the state.’ 


“To know that we have contributed, in any degree, to the 
preservation of our common country, is to myself and the brave men 
under my immediate command, the most pleasing reflection. To 
have received so flattering and distinguished a testimonial of our 
services adds to the pleasure which that conscious alone would 
have afforded. 


“While we indulge the pleasing emotions that are thus pro- 
duced, we should be guilty of great injustice, as well to merit as 
to our own feelings, if we withheld from the commander-in-chief 
to whose wisdom and exertions we are so much indebted for our 
successes, the expression of our highest admiration and applause. 
To his firmness, his skill, his gallentry—to that confidence and 
unanimity amoung all ranks produced by those qualities, we must 
chiefly ascribe the splendid victories in which we esteem it a hap- 
piness and an honour to have borne a part. 

“We enter with sensibility into the feelings of the legislature, 
and of your excellency on occasion of the harmony which has 
been so happily preserved with the inhabitants and militia of the 
state. May the same spirit of the brotherhood always unite us 
when contending against a common enemy in defense of our best 
rights. 

“I tender the assurances of my own and my companions’ thanks 
for the distinguished manner in which you and the legislature have 
been pleased to notice and honor our exertions. 


“T have the honor to be, sir, etc. 


“John Coffee. 
“Brig. Gen. TI. V. Mi Gi teas 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 197 


GEN. COFFEE’S OFFICIAL RECORD. 


“War Department. 
“Ture ADJUSTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE. 
“Memorandum for the Secretary of war. 


“The name of John Coffee, appears with the rank of Colonal 
on a muster roll of the field and staff officers of the regiment of 
Tennessee Volunteer Calvalry under command of Col. John Coffee, 
(war of 1812) covering the period between December 10, 1812, 
and April 27, 1813. This roll is dated April 27, 1813, and shows the 
date of his appointment as November 21, 1812, and a payroll of 
the organization shows the date of his service as April 27, 1813. 


‘*The name John Coffee also appears, with rank of Colonal, 
on a muster roll of the field and staff belonging to Col. John 
Coffee’s regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Calvalry and mounted 
Rifllemen ‘on an expedition against the Creek Nation of Indians’ 
(war of 1812) covering the period between September 24, and 
October 29, 1813. This roll is dated October 29, 1813, and shows 
September 24, 1813, as the date when he mustered into service 
and October 29, 1813, as ‘time of service performed.’ 


‘The name also appears with rank of brigadier general on a 
muster roll of the general and staff officers of Brig. General Coffee’s 
Brigade of Tennessee Volunteer Calvalry and Mounted Gunmen 
(war of 1812) covering the period from Oct. 30, 1813, to May 10, 
1814. This roll is dated May 10, 1814, at Fayetteville, and shows 
October 31, 1813, as the date of his appointment and May 10, 
1814, as date of expiration of service. 

“The name also appears, with rank of Brigadier General on 
muster roll of the general and staff officers of Brigadier General 
Coffee’s Brigade of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Gunmen ‘in the 
late campaign in the south’ (war of 1812) covering the period 
between September 11, 1814, and June 20, 1815, when discharged. 
The roll is dated June 20, 1815, at Nashville and shows June 20, 
1815, as the date of expiration of service. 

“The name also appears with rank of Brigadier General on a 
muster roll of officers belonging to Brigadier General Coffee’s Bri- 
gade of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Gunmen in the service of the 
United States at New Orleans on the first of March, 1815 (war 
of 1812). This roll is dated March Ist., 1815, at New Orleans, 
Louisiana, and shows September 11, 1814, as date of commence- 
ment of service. 

“Tt further appears from the records that this officer marched 
from Nashville, Tennessee, to Washington, M. Ter., in the months 
of January and February, 1813, thence to Nashville Camp Coffee 
on the Tennessee river (September 26, 1813), ‘Black Warrior’s 
Town,’ Fort Deposit and Chenubbe (October 13, 1913); that he 
marched from Camp Chenubbe by Camp Pleasant, thence to 
Talishetehay, near Ten Islands Fort Strother (November, 1813), 
Taledga, Fort Strother, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Enoto- 
chopo, Emuckfau, Fort Strother, (January, 1814), Fort Williams, 


198 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Tohopeka, (March 1814), Fort Williams, Hoithlewalea, Fort 
Jackson and Rutherford County Tennessee, and that he marched 
between September 28, 1814, and April 27, 1815, from Fayetteville, 
thence to Fort Montgomery, Pensacola, Fort Montgomery, mouth 
of Sandy Creek, on the Mississippi, to the encampment below 
New Orleans, and to Nashville, Tennessee. 

“Nothing additional has been found in this department relative 
to the services of this officer, but it appears from an unofficial 
publication (Dictionary of the Army of the United States, Gardner) 
that this officer was wounded in battle under Major General Jack- 
son with Creek Indians at Emuckfau, January 22, 1814, and in an 
attack on Pensacola November, 1814, and that he distinguished 
himself in the defense of New Orleans in battles of December 
23, 1814, and January 8, 1815. 


“It also appears (from No. 19, ‘Filson Club Publications’ en- 
titled ‘The Battle of New Orleans’ by Zachery F. Smith) that the ~ 
thanks of the general assembly of the state of Louisiana were 
presented to General Coffee and other officers ‘For the brilliant 
share have had in the defense of this country and the happy har- 
mony they have maintained with the inhabitants and malitia of 
the state.’ 

“P...C.. .Hlames 
“The Ajustant General. 
“‘Agust 19, 1920.” 


JACKSON TO COFFEE. 


“August 20th, 1819. 
“Dear General: 

“T have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 
of this morning and congratulate you upon the happy delivery of 
Mrs. Coffee, and the birth of a fineson. The honor you have done 
me in giving it my name commands my gratitude and it will 
afford me pleasure to bestow on his education such means as 
may be in my power to fit him for the stage in society that I trust 
his creator has destined him for. We have the company of Doctor 
and Mrs. Shelby, Mrs. McDowell, daughter of Governor Shelby, 
Mr. James Jackson, Major Laton, and Major Wm. B. Lewis. 
So soon as we are released from confinement Mrs. Jackson and 
myself will do ourselves the pleasure to visit our young stranger 
and friend. Inthe mean time Mrs. Jackson requests me to tender 
to you and Polly her heart felt congratulations on the joyful oc- 
casion, and our blessings for the health of the mother and pros- 
perity of the infant. 

“With sincere regards, Yours, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“‘General John Coffee. 

“P.S. Mr. James Jackson will see you at your house before 

he returns should you not be there.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 199 


The name-sake of General Jackson, Andrew Jackson Coffee, 
was born near Nashville, Tennessee, August 20, 1819, educated at 
the University of Nashville, and was appointed to West Point 
Military Academy by President Jackson. He served on General 
Taylor’s staff in the Mexican war and at its close remained in the 
service and served in Texas and Louisana, until 1853, when he was 
assigned for duty on Tampa’s coast, with headquarters at San | 
Francisco, with General Albert Sidney Johnson and General Curtis 
Lee. In the Civil War he sympathized with the south. He 
returned to civil life in 1859. 

The author has in his possession the original of this letter 
from Old Hickory to Gen. John Coffee in Jackson’s own writing. 
It was sent to the author by Mrs. Mary Coffee Campbell of Flor- 
ence, Alabama, great grand-daughter of General Coffee. 


Jackson’s affectionate regard for Gen. John Coffee and his 
family are shown in fine spirit by the letters following: 
JACKSON TO COFFEE. 
‘““‘Washington, November 26th, 1832 
‘My dear General: es 
“T have the pleasure to inform you that your aimable daughter 
Mary reached us today, with Col. and Mrs. Polk, all in good health 
and fine spirits. 

_ “Mary looks as well and as cheerful as I ever saw her, and 
with her cousin, Mary McLemore, and her aunt (Mrs. Andrew 
Jackson Donelson), will spend her winter pleasantly, and I am 
sure will add much to my happiness here, and you may rest assured 
mine will be to her a father’s care whilst she remains. 

“All join in a tender of our affectionate regards to you and 
your amiable family, and believe me your friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. 


“General John Coffee. 
“Florence, Alabama.”’ 


JACKSON TO JOHN D. COFFEE, SON OF GENERAL COFFEE. 
“Washington, August 31, 1833 
“My dear Nephew: ; 

“T have received your kind letter of the 17th instant, that of 
your sister Mary was handed to me by Mr. Pearson on the 27th 
instant. 

“T have to tender to your sister Mary, thro’ you, my thanks 
for her affectionate and intelligent letter. Say to her I will answer 
it the first leisure moment, and will be always happy to receive a 
letter from her. 


200 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Present me kindly to your mother, to Mary and every member 
of the family, and believe me your affectionate uncle, 


“‘Andrew Jackson. 
““Mr. John D. Coffee, 


“Florence, Alabama.” 


“Washington, August 31st, 1833. 
““My dear Nephew: 

“Present me kindly to your mother, Mary and every individual 
of the family. Say to Andrew he will attend to his studies and be 
an obedient and affectionate child to his dear mother, sisters and 
brothers, and believe your affectionate uncle, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
‘°To Mr. John D. Coffee, 
“Florence, Alabama. 


JACKSON TO JOHN D. COFFEE. 


“Washington, November 17th, 1834. 
‘““My dear Sir: 

“On yesterday I received yours of the 2nd, instant, enclosing 
the acceptance of your brother Andrew Jackson Coffee’s appoint- 
ment to West Point Academy, which I sent to the Secretary of 
War to remain on‘file in that department. 


“T am glad that he has gone to the Nashville University, he 
will spend one session there to great advantage with application. 
Write him I have great solicitude about him and anticipate that 
he will, when he gets to West Point, stand high in his class if not 
at its head; that I hope to see him and Andrew Jackson McLemore 
on their way to the Point, when I will give them both such advice 
as will be certain to benefit them, if they adopt and practice it. 

“Accept my best wishes for your prosperity and happiness, 
and believe me your affectionate uncle, 

‘Andrew Jackson. 
“To 
“Mr. John D. Coffee. 
“Florence, Alabama.”’ 


JACKSON TO ANDREW JACKSON HUTCHINGS. 


“Washington, June 27th, 1836. 
“‘Dear Hutchings: 


“Please present my kind regards to Mary, to Mrs. Coffee and 
every branch of her family, to John and lady and to Andrew Jack- 


son Coffee, and say to him I hope he is closely attending to his 
studies. 


“Andrew Jackson.” 


MARY COFFEE. 


Daughter of Gen. John Coffee. Painted by R. E. W. Earle in 1834, now owned by Edward Asbury O’Neal, 
Ill, at his home, Chestnut Hills, near Florence, Alabama. Mary Coffee married Andrew Jackson Hutchings 
and was a favorite as a young girl of Old Hickory. See Jackson’s letter to her, Chapter 8. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 201 


JACKSON TO ANDREW JACKSON HUTCHINGS. 


“Hermitage, June 5, 1837. 
““My dear Hutchings: 

“Andrew Jackson Coffee left me in fine spirits. I furnished 
him with letters and have no doubt he will do well and become a 
great General. 

“Andrew Jackson.” 


JACKSON TO ANDREW JACKSON HUTCHINGS. 


“Washington, June 27, 1836. 
“Dear Hutchings: 

“I was much gratified by the receipt of your letter of the 5th 
instant. I was beginning to think my friends at and near Florence 
had forgotten me. 

“T am happy to hear that your dear Mary is about to present 
you with an heir, my prayers will be offered for her safey and that 
of the babe. I trust a kind providence will preserve them both to 
you. 

“Please present my kind regards to Mary, to Mrs. Coffee and 
every branch of her family, and accept for yourself the affectionate 
regards of your uncle and sincere friend, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Andrew Jackson Hutchings. 

“Florence, Alabama.” 

A characteristic letter by Andrew Jackson to Miss Mary Coffee, 
daughter of his friend General Coffee, written when he was Pres- 
dent and at the time when public affairs were pressing him greatly 
follows: 

“Rips Raps, August 15, 1833. 
“My dear Mary: 
P “Having returned to this spot for the benefit of my health by 
sea bathing, and get free from that continued bustle with which I 
am always surrounded in Washington and elsewhere, unless when 
I shut myself up on these rocks, I did not receive your kind and 
affectionate letter until day before yesterday, rehearseing to me 
the melancholy bereavement which you have sustained in the loss 
of your dear father. 

“T had received this melancholy and distressing intelligence by 
sundry letters from-his friends who surrounded him in his last mo- 
ments. 

“It is true, my dear Mary, that you have‘lost an affectionate 
and tender father, and I a sincere friend. When I shook him by 
the hand in Washington, I did not then think it was the last adieu 
to a dear friend, nor would I have taken the trip to the north had 
I known his disease was approaching such a crisis; no, Mary had 
I been advised of his peril, I should have hastened to see him once 
before he left this troublesome world and yielded to him all the 


202 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


comfort in my power. But why these reflections? He is gone 
from us and we cannot recall him. We must follow him for he 
cannot return to us, and it becomes our duty to prepare for this 
event. His example will be an invaluable legacy to his family, 
and his dying admonition a treasure, if adopted, beyond all price. 
True religion is calculated to make us happy not only in this, but 
in the next and better world, and therefore it was his regret that 
he had not joined the church. It is a profitable admonition to his 
family that they may all become members of the church at an 
early day, for it is in religion alone that we can find consolation for 
such bereavement as the loss of our dear friend; it is religion alone 
that ever gives peace to us here and happiness beyond the grave; 
it is religion alone that can support us in our declining years, when 
our relish is lost for all sublunary enjoyments, and all things are 
seen in their true lights as mere vanity and vexation of spirit. 
Your father’s admonition on his dying bed ought to be cherished 
by you all and practiced upon. 

‘““My dear Mary, his request for my prayers for his dear wife 
and children, will be bestowed with pleasure. They will be con- 
stantly offered up at the throne of grace for you all, and our dear 
Saviour has spoken it: “That he will be a father to the fatherless, 
and a husband to the widow.’ Rely on his promises; they are 
faithful and true and he will bless you in all your outgoings and 
incomings and in your baskets and in your store. Rely upon 
and trust in his goodness and mercy and prepare your minds, in the 
language of your dear father, always to be ready to say with heart- 
felt resignation, ‘May the lord’s will be done.’ 

“Tf I am spared to next spring and my health will permit, I 
will visit your dear mother and mingle my tears with hers over his 
silent grave; till then, my dear Mary, if I can be of any service to 
her and the family in any way, I hope you will make it known to 
me. ‘To your dear mother and all the family, tender my blessings 
to their health and happiness, now and hereafter. 

‘Emily and the children, with Andrew and Sarah, are with me, 
all in good health, and all join me with best wishes to your mother 
and the family, and also in the tender of our sincere condolence in 
this very distressing and mournful occasion. 

‘‘Major Donalson is in Tennessee; we left him in Washington 
and he was to set out in two days after we left and we are advised 
he did so. 

“Tt will give me much happiness to hear from your mother and 
the family often; do, my dear Mary, write me occasionally. Your 
father, whilst living knew the deepest interest I felt in everything 
that related to his and their welfare. He wrote me often and 
except for him and your-self, I have not received a line from any of 
our connection except announcing the death of your dear father 
for twelve months. Do write me occasionally and believe me 
to be, with the highest esteem, your affectionate uncle, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
‘“‘“Miss Mary Coffee.” 


W. G. BROWNLOW. 


Methodist preacher, and Controversialist Editor, Writer of books, Governor of Tennessee 1865-1869, United 
States Senator 1869-1875. Died at Knoxville, Tennessee, April 29, 1877. See Chapters 9 and 10. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 203 


papers; leaves Tennessee on a tour of the North; 
quotations from his speeches; visits the Her- 
mitage; early religious history of Tennessee; his 
published books; discussion on slavery with Rey. 
Abram Pryne in Philadelphia; doctrinal con- 
troversies with Rev. J. R. Graves and Rev 
Frederick A. Ross; Brownlow a Union slave- 
= holder and advocate of slavery. 


CHAPTER 9... 
W. G. Brownlow gives family history; his news- 
ru 


eo a oS PO FORO MORO MRO POR ROR e Seo e5e4 


; 


ua} 


“T am, aS were my parents before me, a native of Virginia. 
A portion of my relations, on my mother’s side, were in the war of 
1812, and the second war of Independence and lost their lives at 
Norfolk. My father was a ‘High Private,’ in Capt. Landen’s 
quarter, Sullivan County, Tennessee, when peace was made and 
terminated that war. 

“My uncle, William L. Brownlow, was a Captain in the United 
States Navy, died in the service, and his bones repose in the Navy 
Yard at Norfolk. 

“Another, Alexander Brownlow, was first Lieutenant in the 
navy, in that same war, and his bones rest in the Navy Yard, 
at New Orleans, having died in the service; a third uncle, Samuel 
L. Brownlow, was a wagon master under General Jackson, and 
was in the battle of the Horse Shoe; a fourth uncle, Isaac Brownlow, 
was an inferior officer under General Jackson, and bore his dis- 
patches from the Creek War to Huntsville, swimming the Ten- 
messee river on horse back; a fifth uncle, John Brownlow, was an 
inferior office in the navy, and died at sea. 

“T am known throughout the length and breadth of the land 
as the ‘Fighting Parson;’ while I may say, without incurring the 
charge of egotism, that no man is more peaceable, as my neighbors 
will testify. Always poor, and always oppressed with security 
debts, few men in my section and of my limited means have given 
away more in the course of each year to charitable objects. I have 
never been arraigned in the church for any immorality. I never 
played a card. I never was a profane swearer. I never drank a 
dram of liquor, until within a few years, when it was taken as a 
medicine. I never had a cigar or chew of tobacco in my mouth. 
I never was in attendance at a theatre. I never attended a horse 
race, and never witnessed their running, save on the fair-grounds 
of my own county. I never courted but one woman; and her I 
married.” 


204 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


He learned the trade of a carpenter, but concluded to become a 
preacher, and entered the Methodist ministry as a circuit writer 
in 1826,and continued in that service for ten years, when, according 
to the Methodist rule of that day, he was allowed to take a sta- 
tionary residence and retain his license as a preacher and continue 
to preach or not, as he saw proper. 


In 1828, he advocated the election of John Quincy Adams over 
Andrew Jackson. He left Virginia, came to Tennessee and took’ 
up his permanent home at Elizabethton, Carter County, in 1839, 
and in that year established the Tennessee Whig there, a weekly 
newspaper, which ran for one year, and issued exactly fifty-two 
numbers. In 1839, he moved to Jonesboro, Washington County, 
‘Tennessee, the oldest town in the state, and there continued to 
publish his paper, but changed its name to the Jonesboro Whig. 
He then moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, May 2, 1849, where he 
lived until his death. He there changed the name of his paper to 
Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig, published weekly, but a few years 
before the Civil War, it was published tri-weekly. In the days of 
its greates influence, it is said to have had the largest circulation 
of any paper in the South, except probably the Louisville Journal, 
edited by Geo. D. Prentice. It ceased publication October 19, 
1861. 

In the early stages of the war, and while Knoxville was in the 
hands of the Confederate authorities, he was put under arrest 
December 6, 1861, and confined in the Knoxville Jail; released and 
started to the Union lines at Nashville March 3, 1862, reaching 
Nashville, March 15, 1862. 

After the Federal Army took possession of Knoxville, he again 
changed the name of his paper to Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig and 
Rebel Ventilator. 

He returned to Tennessee in 1864, and was elected Governor 
in 1865, re-elected in 1867 and elected to the United States Senate 
in 1869, where he served to March 4, 1875. 

In 1869, when he became United States Senator, he sold the 
Whig, but on the expiration of his term in the Senate, March 4, 
1875, he bought a controlling interest in it again and settled down 
in Knoxville to resume its publication. 


In 1875, the Knoxville Chronicle, a Republican daily, was 
published in Knoxville by the firm of Rule and Ricks, composed of 
Capt. William Rule and A. J. Ricks. Capt. Rule founded the 
Knoxville Journal in 1885, and is now, August, 1921, the editor 
of the Knoxville Journal and Tribune, which he has edited ever 
since the paper was started. He is the oldest active editor in 
Tennessee, and probably in America, he being, at this time 83 
years old. 

Governor Brownlow bought Mr. Ricks’ half interest in the 
Chronicle, and Capt. William Rule bought a half interest in the 
Whig, and the new firm of Brownlow and Rule was organized. 
The name of the weekly Chronicle was changed to Whig and 


ACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 205 


Chronicle, 
Brownlow an 


he daily Chronicle retained its old name, with 
le as editors, and so remained until Governor 
Brownlow’s de He continued editorial work until his death 
as his health wowld permit. 

After leaving the South, and getting within the Union lines, 
Parson Brownlow made speeches in various cities of the North, 
including Cincinnati, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York, and Phil- 
ladelphia. In these various speeches, he gave his own political 
career, his personal opinions on slavery as an institution, on abol- 
itionists and secessionists. A study of his speeches shows that he 
was absolutely consistent and that he did not change his view 
to any extent whatever. The burden of his speeches was his 
intense opposition to abolitionists and secessionists, and his bitter 
hatred of each. He frankly declared himself a pro-slavery man at 
all times; his hatred for abolitionists was just as strong as his hatred 
for secessionists. His supreme devotion to the Union was the 
great passion of his life. Parson Brownlow’s bitterest opponent 
must give him credit for having at all times the supreme courage 
of his convictions. Even while making speeches in Northern 
States, where slavery was abhorred, he there declared for slavery. 


In his speech in Cincinnati, April 4, 1862, in Pikes Opera House, 
he said, as quoted in the Cincinnati Gazette, and reproduced in 
‘Parson Brownlow’s book:’ 

“It is no new thing with me that I am a Union man, for I have 
‘been that all my life. I was living in the counties of Pickens and 
Anderson, South Carolina, the latter the home of Jno. C. Cal- 
houn, in 1832, during the nullification rebellion. I declared for 
the Union then—wrote a phamplet, in which I denounced dis- 
union, and defended the proclamation of General Jackson. 

“T commenced by political career in 1828, when I was one of a 
corporal’s guard, who got up an electoral ticket for John Quincy 
Adams against Andrew Jackson. I named this fact to show that 
I have never been sectional but always national, supporting men 
of integrity and intelligence, without looking to which side of the 
line they were on. I was for Adams, because of his talents and 
pure moral character, and last, but not least, because of his Federal 
politics. I have always been a Federal Whig, of the Alexander 
Hamilton and George Washington school, believing in a strong 
circle of the concentrated Government, strong enough to sustain 
itself, and put down all such infamous rebellion, such as. this is. 
Though I was opposed to Jackson, I would have reserected him, 
‘if I could have done so two years ago, and placed him in the chair, 
disgraced by that mockery of a man Buchannon, and had him crush 
this rebellion. Jackson was a pure patriot, mover of his country, 
and a Union man, and if he had been living when this rebellion 
broke out, he would have hanged the leaders and prevented this un- 
natural war. 

“Tn 1832, I was for Clay for the presidency; in 1836 I was for 
Hugh Lawson White, who was beaten by Mr. ;Van Buren; in 1840 


l 


206 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


I was a zealous supporter of General Harrison, of Ohio, a true 
man and a tried patriot; in 1844 I supported Clay and Freling- 
huysen; in 1848 I supported Taylor and Fillmore; in 1852 I was for 
Daniel Webster, but he was not the candidate and died before the 
election came off; in 1856 I was for Fillmore and Donaldson; 
in 1860 I was for Bell and Everett, and I am for the hind legs of 
this kangaroo ticket yet. A better or a more nobler disinterested 
man than Everett never lived. 

“Bell has gone over tosecession; but he is atheart a Unionman, 
and only yielded on account of the great pressure which but few of 
our Union leaders found themselves able openly to resist. 

“‘And now let me call your attention to the sujbect of slavery, 
the great topic of the day. I have no sentiments at the South that 
I do not hold here. I have no sentiments here, that I do not en- 
tertain when I am in Tennessee. I should despise myself and 
merit your scorn and contempt, if I held one set of opinions at the 
North and another at the South. I have for years been publishing 
my sentiments upon the Slavery question, and I have only to say 
to-night they have undergone no change. 

“Tf then the South in her madeness and folly will make the 
issue of ‘No Union and Slavery, or no Slavery anda Union,’ Iam 
for the Union, though every institution in the country perish. 
And if I had been authorized some two or three years ago to select 
about two or three hundred of your most abominable Slavery agi- 
tators in the North, and an equal number of God-forsaken and. 
most hell-deserving dis-Unionists at the South, and had marched 
them to the District of Columbia, hanged them on a common gal- 
lows, dug for them a common grave, and embalmed their bodies 
with gimson weed and dog fennel, there would have been none 
of this trouble, nor should I have been here to-night. 

“Let the Federal Government now guarantee to all loyal men 
in seceded States the right and title to all their property, including 
negroes, and protect them in the enjoyment of the same, but let 
the title held by Rebels, seeking to destroy the Government, be 
annihilated, both as to negroes and all other property; and I trust 
in God that it will be done, and that such confiscated property will 
go to make up the losses of loyal men.” 

This speech at Cincinnati was one of the longest and most elab- 
orate made on this speaking trip to the cities of the North. 

The sentiment contained in this Cincinnati speech is set out in 
in the following letter, which is also reproduced in his book. His 
frankness is shown not only in his speeches but in his letters. As 
for example: 

“‘Knoxville, Tenn., 
“May 14, 1861. 
“LoL. M.\E: 

“T have your letter of the 8th, and also the evening Journal. 

‘“‘You correctly interpret the Union men of the border States 
when you pronounce them ‘pro-Slavery’ men. I think I correctly 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 207 


represent them in my paper, as I shall do in this brief epistle, ex- 
cept, perhaps, that Iam more ultra than most of them. I ama 
native of Virginia, and so were my parents before me, and together 

with a numerous train of relatives, they were and are Slave holders. 
For thirty years I have lived in Tennessee, and my wife and children 
are natives of Tennessee. 

“T am a pro-Slavery man, and so are the Union men generally 
of the border Slave States. I have long since made up my mind 
upon the Slavery question, but not without studying it throughly. 
The result of my investigation is that there is not a single passage 
in the New Testament, nor a singlé act in the records of the Church 
during her early history, even for centuries, containing any direct 
professed or intended censure of Slavery. 

“Christ and the Apostles found the institution existing under the 
authority and sanction of law, and in their labors among the people, 
and under like ultra abolitionists, masters and slaves bowed at the 
same altars, and were taken into the same Church, communing to- 
gather around the same table, the Savior and his apostles exalting 
owners to treat Slaves as became the gospel and Slaves to the 
obedience and honesty that their religious profession might not be 
evil spoken of. 

“While I say this, let me say in all candor, that if we were once 
convinced in the border Slave States that the administration at 
Washington, and the people of the North who are backing up the 
administration with men and money, contemplated the subjugation 
of the South or the abolishing of Slavery, there would not be a 
Union man among us in twenty-four hours. Come what might, 
sink or swim, survive or perish, we would fight you to the death, 
and we would unite our fortunes and destinies with even these 
demoralizing seceded States, for whose leaders and laws we have 
no sort of respect. But we have not believed, nor do we believe 
yet, that the administration has such purposes in view. Dem- 
agogues and designing men charge it here and by this means enlist 
thousands under their banner, who otherwise would never support 
their wicked schemes of secession. * 

“Allow me to say that the curse of the Country has been that 
for years North of the Mason & Dixon line you have kept pulpits 
open to the abuse of Southern Slavery and of the Southern people. 

“Tn like manner, the clergy of the South, without distinction of 
sects, men of talent, learning, and influence, have raised the howl 
of secession, andit fallslike an Indian’s war cryupon our citizensfrom 
their prostitute pulpits each Sabbath. Many of them go so far 
as to petition their God in their public prayers to blast the people 
of the North. I have no idea that a God of peace will answer any 
such blasphemous supplications. 

“(Signed) W. G. Brownlow,”’ 
“Editor of the Knoxville Whig. 


William G. Brownlow was a Union man, consistently from the 
time of Jackson’s Proclamation to the nullifiers of South Carolina. 


208 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


When that Proclamation came out, Brownlow was doing ser- 
vice as a Methodist Circuit writer in South Carolina, and from the 
pulpit he declared in favor of Jackson’s immortal document, which 
gave offense to persons who heard it, and who expressed their 
disapprobation at his sustaining Jackson, to which the Circuit 
Rider replied: 


“So far as I am concerned, I ask no favors of the enemies of 
my Government, neither in South Carolina or elsewhere. I can 
live without you, and live among a people who are loyal and have 
the fear of God before their eyes. They will be more likely to 
receive and appreciate the teachings of the gospel. There were 
more Tories here during the Revolutionary War than in all the 
other States put together, and that the decendents of these old 
Tories are now in the lead of this nullification rebellion needs no 
proof whatever to make the charge good. 

“I talked plainly for one who is liable to be mobbed every 
day; but this is the way to talk in times like these. I am not 
to be taught my duty by a set of gassy Union destroyers, such as 
constitute the staple of South Carolina’s chivalry. I shall fall 
back into Tennessee where the people appreciate the blessing of 
the best Government in the world, and where the gospel is likely 
to produce some other effect than that of arraying the people 
against the legal and constituted authorities of the land.” 


In his book, ‘“The Great Iron Wheel Examined or its various 
spokes extracted, and an exhibition of Elder Graves, its builder,”’ 
published in Nashville, Tennessee, 1856, Parson Brownlow again 
comes out with unrestricted frankness upon the subject of Slavery: 


‘This is no time for frank and patriotic men to remain neutral 
upon a subject alike affecting the interests of the Church and the 
country. I volunteer to show my hand upon this great question, 
not caring one dime whether it array the entire North against me 
or not. And the people of the South should require this adopted 
citizen, Elder Graves, to state, in unmistakable terms, whether or 
not he now entertains the same feelings and views, touching the 
great slavery question, that he did while a citizen of the ‘Western 
Reserve,’ in Ohio, where abolitionism is a trade with nine-tenths 
of the inhabitants. Let Mr. Graves be interrogated, and forced 
to define his position at once, or leave the South in hot haste. 
Let him be driven at once out of the stagnant pool of abolitionism, 
that his whispers and insinuations may no longer send forth ma- 
laria and death among the institutions of the South. Political 
disquiet and commotion are daily giving birth and sustenence to 
new and loftier schemes of agitation and disunion among the vile 
abolitionists; to bold and hazardous enterprises in the States and | 
Territories, and even in Congress; to insurrection and revolution 
throughout the entire country. Among political men, without 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 209 


distinction of party, the common virtues of honesty and truth 
have become superannuated and obselete. The slavery agitation, 
that has been buried by the Compromise Acts of 1850, is anew 
lifting its head, and under the piratical flag of ‘Black Repub- 
licanism,’ asserting the rights of ‘human liberty: her infernal 
altars smoke with fresh incense, and, enlisted in her defence, are 
scores of designing men in the South—some filling pulpits, some 
occupying high positions in colleges, and academies, and who, 
though among us, are ‘not of us,‘ our Southern friends may rest 
assured. 

“T am not, and never had been, interested in the slave-traffic, 
or immersed in the cares, advantages, or disadvantages of the in- 
stitution of slavery, and therefore I claim to be a disinterested 
looker-on. A native of Virginia, I have lived half a century in the 
South and seen the workings of the institution of slavery, in its 
best and worst forms, and in all the Southern States. I have gone 
among the free negroes at the North, and, in every instance, I 
have found them mere miserable and destitute, as a whole, than 
the slave population of the South. In our Southern States, 
where negroes have been set at liberty, in nine cases out of ten, 
their conditions have been made worse; while the most wretched, 
lazy, and dishonest class of persons to be found in the Southern 
States, are free persons of color. I, therefore, go against the eman- 
cipation of slaves altogether, unless they can be sent to Liberia at 
‘once. -I take my stand with the friends of the institution of slavery 
in the South, and, in defense of the rights of the South, connected 
with this question, I will go so far as the next man—even dying 
in the last ditch.” 

In his speech on September 7, 1858, at Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, on the first day of the joint debate with Rev. Abram 
Pryne on the slavery question, Mr. Brownlow said: 

“As churches at the South, we cannot affiliate with men who 
fight under the dark and piratical flag of Abolitionism, and where 
infernal altars smoke with the vile incense of Northern fanaticism. 
I have no confidence in either the politician or the divine at the 
North constantly engaged in the villainous agitation of the slavery 
question. ‘There are true, reliable, conscientious, pious and patri- 
otic men in the North, and there are similar men in the South, 
who came from the North, but they are not among these graceless 
agitators, and if I find any of these agitators in Heaven where I 
expect to go after death, I shall conclude they have entered that 
world of joy by praticeing a gross fraud upon the doorkeeper.”’ 

Harpers Magazine for July, 1862, makes this interesting com- 
ment on Brownlow upon his appearance in New York at the Acad- 
emy of Music while on his tour of Northern cities: 

“The visit of Parson Brownlow to this city was one of the mem- 
orable events of the month. His name had been so long familiar 
to the public, and was surrounded with such various and peculiar 
associations that the interest in him was universal and profound. 


14 


\ 


210 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


It was easy enough to foretell that his public reception at the 
Academy would be what is popularly called ‘an ovation.’ But 
it was much more than a spectacle. There was a tragic reality. 
in what he said and in the impression he personally produced. . . 
Now, certainly, most men who have heard of Parson Brownlow, 
who have read his speeches and marked his career, must have ex- 
pected to see a thick, coarse figure, with a corresponding face, 
which would not surprise if it should seem vulgar. If a man had 
described his expectation would he not have probable said: ‘A 
swearing, swaggering parson a hard customer?’ Well, the pic- 
tures and the descriptions are not faithful. There stood a tall, 
rather spare man, with marked but delicate features, careworn, 
perfectly pale, but both sad and intellectural. If there were any- 
thing like a smile on his face at any moment it was but a transitory 
gleam. The expression was calm, firm, sweet but pensive. He 
received everybody with great simplicity, shaking hands and con- 
versing easily and pleasantly with men of all parties and ages, but 
whose cause was his cause— the cause in which he had so faith- 
fully fought and so sadly suffered.” 


BROWNLOW AT THE HERMITAGE. 


Whatever Andrew Jackson may have done and said in his inter- 
course with his fellow man outside of his home, it goes without 
controversy that he was a very prince of hospitality in his home, 
and in corrobaration of this we give an incident told the author by 
Col. John B. Brownlow, a son of Parson Brownlow, that occurred 
between his father and Jackson. 

Col. Brownlow said that in 1845, the Tennessee Whigs held a 
convention, at Nashville, and nominated Ephriam H. Foster for 
Governor, and his father and other leading Whigs of the State were 
there. After the adjournment of the Convention, his father, Judge 
Thomas A. R. Nelson, of Knoxville, and eight or ten other leading 
Whigs of the Eastern part of the State, started for their home in 
Eastern Tennessee, and it was suggested that they go by the Herm- 
itage and pay their respects to Old Hickory. ‘They rode out to 
the Hermitage, and Governor Brownlow reconsidered the matter- 
of calling on General Jackson and doubted the propriety of it, so 
that when they reached the Hermitage, all the party got off their 
horses except Brownlow, and the question was asked him why he 
didn’t dismount also, to which he replied that he had strongly 
and with all his power opposed General Jackson for years in his 
paper, Brownlow’s Jonesboro Whig, and he did not know whether 
General Jackson would want to meet him, and he doubted whether 
it was the proper thing for him to call at the General’s residence. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 211 


The others of the party insisted that he should go in, which he 
finally consented to do with the understanding that he should keep 
in the back ground when the party was presented to Old Hickory, 
so that it might not be necessary in the crowd to call his name and 
disclose his identity with that understanding they presented 
themselves at the Hermitage door and met Jackson; but that 
experienced eagle eye noticed that there was one man in the 
crowd whose name was not called, and he stepped up to Brownlow, 
and held out his hand and said, here is one gentleman who has not 
been introduced to me, and thereupon Brownlow was formally pre- 
sented. Old Hickory replied, ‘‘I have heard of you before,” shook 
his hand cordially again, and in the course of conversation, while 
the party remained, directed a large part of his remarks to Gov. 
Brownlow, but never gave the slightest hint that he knew of the 
determined war Brownlow had made on him for years. The in- 
cident passed off with that; but illustrated, as Col. Brownlow put 
it, that Jackson was a Prince of hospitality in his own home, no 
matter whether he was visited by a friend or a foe. 

Col. Brownlow gave another incident of Jackson’s high court- 
esy to everyone in his own home. He said that Leslie Combs, at 
one time a member of Congress from Kentucky, was secured by 
Henry Clay as a messenger to take to General Jackson a copy of 
one of Clay’s measures in Congress, strongly opposing Jackson. 
Mr. Combs reached the Hermitage, delivered his document, and 
was received by Jackson with the most eminent courtesy. He in- 
vited Combs to stay as a guest at his house, showed him every 
attention, and, on leaving, put some apples in his saddle-bags for 
his return trip; but told Combs he wished to meet him in a hotel 
that he named, in Nashville, the next day, ata certain hour. Both 
parties kept the appointment, and there Jackson gave Combs a 
denunciation for being, as he termed it, a tool of Henry Clay, and 
denounced Clay, beyond measure, as he always did. But not a 
discourteous word to Mr. Combs was said at the Hermitage. 

The slave holding Union Whigs of the South sided with Mr. 
_ Lincoln and in Tennessee with Brownlow. Some large slave hold- 
ers and influential men in Tennessee took their view, and to illus- 
trate Whig sentiment at that day, and for the enlightenment of 
this generation of Tennesseans, the following partial list may be 
cited who lived in and around Knoxville; 

Hon. John Baxter who was later Circuit Judge of the United 
States; Col. John Netherland the Whig candidate for Governor 


2 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


against Hon. Isham G. Harris, and who later became a Democrat; 
Col. John Williams, son of United Senator John Williams, who 
from an old Whig became a Democrat, but always adhered un- 
flinchingly to the Union; Judge Thomas A. R. Nelson, who was a 
Whig Member of Congress, from the first Congregational District 
of Tennessee, and who became a Democrat, and was a judge of the 
Supreme Court of Tennessee, after the enfranchisement of the Con- 
federates in the State; Col. William Heiskell, the author’s father, 
a Union man, was Speaker of the Tennessee House of Represen- 
tatives, during the administration of Brownlow as Governor; Col. 
John R. Branner of Jefferson County, Tennessee; Major Frederick 
S. Heiskell, the old time Whig Editor of the Knoxville Register, 
whose influence in Tennessee was fully as great or greater than 
that of any journalist of his time; Judge Conelly F. Trigg who was 
later United States District Judge in East Tennessee; Col. Thom- 
as H. Calloway who became President of the East Tennessee and 
Georgia Railroad. 


Scores of others of the most prominent men of the State, slave 
holders and old Whigs, were Union men. They put the Union 
above slavery even though the South was for Secession, and they 
themselves, in most instances, bankrupted by Lincoln’s emanci- 
pation proclamation. History affords no finer illustration of an 
adherence to principle bringing financial ruin than was afforded by 
the Union slave holders of the South loyally adhering to the Union 
notwithstanding the triumph of the Union cause could but result 
in the freedom of every slave in the South. 


We study of Gov. Brownlow’s public record discloses that in 
everything, except on the question of Secession, he was with the 
South. He was aslave owner and openly, both in speech and writ- 
ing, defended slavery. 


When the Civil Rights Bill was passed by Congress, against 
which the people of the South were practically a unit, Gov. Brown- 
low came out in an editorial in the Knoxville Chronicle, denouncing 
that bill, much to the surprise of the Southern people. The bill 
was afterwards declared unconctitutional by the Supreme Court of _ 
the United States. There will probably never be unity of opinion 
in Tennessee as to his administration as Governor, because quest- 
ions then before the public arose directly out of Secession, and the 
historians of the two sides will probably never agree as to the merits 
of the legislation of that period; but, aside from that, it is due the 
Governor to say that he was always a friend of the Southern States. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 213 


There was no compromise with him on the subject of Secession. 
He was a Union man, first, last, and all the time, without variation 
or shadow of turning. 

Slavery raised no issue with him on that question. He stood 
upon the same platform as Abraham Lincoln in his great letter to 
Horace Greeley, and upon that same letter and the course of con- 
duct set out in it, stood the slave holding Whigs mentioned who 
lived in and around Knoxville; and in fact all slave-holding Union 
men in Tennessee. The Union was first and everything else sub- 
ordinate. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO HORACE GREELEY 
“Executive Mansion, 
“Washington, August 22, 1862. 
“Hon. Horace Greeley: 

“Dear Sir: Ihave just read yours of the 19th addressed 
to myself through the New York Tribune. If there be in it any 
statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous 
I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any 
inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not, now 
and here, argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an 
impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old 
friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right. 

“As to the policy I ‘seem to be pursuing,’ as you say, I have 
not meant to leave any one in doubt. 

“T would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way 
under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be 
restored, the nearer the Union will be ‘the Union as it was.’ If 
there be those who would not save the Union unless they could atthe 
same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be 
those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount 
object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save 
or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing 
any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the 
slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leav- 
ing others alone, I. would also do that. What I do about slavery and 
the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; 
and what I forbear, I f:rbear because I do not believe it would help 
to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what 
I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever T shall 
believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct 
errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so 
fast as they shall appear to be true views. 

“T have here stated my purpose according to my view of official 
duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal 
wish that all men everywhere could be free. 

“Yours” 
“A. Lincoln.” 


214 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


THE UNION AND THE CONSTITUTION. 


The brief extract here given is taken from a speech of Mr. 
Brownlow delivered in a debate in Philadelphia with the Rev. 
Mr. Pryne. No abolitionist of the North could have shown a 
more ardent love for and belief in the Union than this anti-aboli- 
tionist of the mountains of Tennessee. 


“Who can estimate the value of the American Union? Proud, 
happy, thrice-happy America! ‘The home of the oppressed, the 
asylum of the emigrant! where the citizen of every clime, and the 
child of every creed, roam free and untrammelled as the wild 
winds of heaven! Baptized at the fount of Liberty in fire and 
blood, cold must be the heart that thrills not at the name of the 
American Union! 

“When the Old World, with ‘ all its pomp, and pride, and cir- 
cumstances, “ shall be covered with oblivion—when thrones shall 
have crumbled and dynasties shall have been forgotten—may 
this glorious Union, despite the mad schemes of Southern fire- 
eaters and Northern abolitionists, stand amij regal ruin and 
national desolation, towering sublime, like the last mountain in 
the Deluge—imajestic, immutable, and magnificent! 

“In pursuance of this, let every conservative Northern man, who 
loves his country and her institutions, shake off the trammels of 
Northern fanaticism, and swear upon the altar of his country that 
he will stand by her Constitution and laws. Let every Southern 
man shake off the trammels of disunion and nullification, and 
pledge his life and his sacred honor to stand by the Constitution 
of his country as it is, the laws as enacted by Congress and inter- 
preted by the Supreme Court. ‘Then we shall see every heart a 
shield, and a drawn sword in every hand, to preserve the ark of 
our political safety! Then we shall see reared a fabric upon our 
National Constitution which time cannot crumble, persecution 
shake, fanaticism disturb, nor revolution change, but which shall 
stand among us like some lofty and stupendous Apennine, while 
the earth rocks at its feet, and the thunder peals above its head!” 


SOME EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF TENNESSEE 


Tennessee’s early history presents a striking illustration of a 
pioneer people with unflinching self-reliance and the most fearless 
courage, overcoming every danger and obstacle in their way in 
conquering the trackless wilderness and in subdueing the red- 
man, and founding a white man’s civilization and government 
within the present limits of the state. 

That early history also illustrates those same pioneers fighting 
and contending for their several religious doctrines with almost 
the same fierceness and persistence with which they cleared the ° 


n 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY ZI 


wilderness and destroyed the Indians. Hot religious discussion 
was a part of the lives of those people and a history of it is both 
instructive and entertaining. The curious part of it is that re- 
ligion seems to have been a matter of doctrine only which was held 
to be so fundamental as to constitute seemingly the sum total of 
religion. In warm advocacy of the several doctrines, the contest- 
ants seemed to lose sight of charity, neighborly kindness, loyalty 
to the widow and orphan, love to one’s fellow and all that is ele- 
_ vating and ennobling in the story of the good Samaritian. Elec- 
tion, saving grace, apostacy, adult baptism, predestination, all 
phases of Calvinism, regeneration, infant baptism, the communion, 
the confessional, justification and a score of other controversal 
topics, stirred the people all over Tennessee, and, in fact, in all 
the adjoining states. Contestants were not only controversial but 
denunciatory and bitter, and discussions occurred that recognized 
no restrictions as to the invective used. The leaders were Parson 
Brownlow as champion of John Wesley and the Methodists, J. R. 
Graves of Nashville as defender and exponent of the Baptists, 
and Frederick A. Ross a bold and aggressive, upholder of the 
Presbyterians. Doctrinal books were written that displayed 
great research and intellectual strength. Sermons and speeches 
without number were delivered and controversial newspaper 
articles were in almost every public journal. Parson Brownlow 
was living at Jonesboro, Tennessee, a part of this period, publishing 
his Jonesboro Whig, a weekly newspaper and Brownlow’s Monthly 
Review in 1847, 1848 and 1849. ‘“‘The Great Iron Wheel Ex- 
amined,” a reply made in 1856 to J. R. Graves’ book “The Great 
Iron Wheel” was written after he removed to Knoxville. It is 
a closely printed volumn of 330 pages. He also preached and 
made addresses on doctrinal subjects. 

The book-writing part of his life was between 1834, when 
“Helps to the Study of Presbyterianism’’ appeared, and in 1856, 
when ‘“The Great Iron Wheel Examined” came out, a period of 
twenty-two years. Born in 1805, he was 29 years old when his 
book on Presbyterianism appeared. 

From 1828 to his death he was also in politics on the side of the 
Whigs and later of the Republicans. But the intellectual side of 
the man is exhibited best in his books, writings and speeches of 
religious controversy, and here his most vindictive enemy must 
admit that he is entitled to be classed among the mental leaders of 
the day, and that in debate with Graves and Ross, who were both 


. 


216 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


educate dand learned men in religious discussions, he rendered 
Methodism a service in bold and successful advocacy greater than 
which no other champion ever rendered that church in America, the 
two Wesleys and Whitfield alone excepted. Their work was the work 
of founding and evangelizing. Brownlow defended and up-held 
when the church was attacked, which, in some form or from some 
source was almost a daily occurrence. He became a great leader 
in the discussion of religious doctrines, and one is surprised at his 
breadth and thoroughness, and the question naturally arises as - 
to where he got them. His school education was meagg¢ and 
such as only the very deficient schools at that time in Southwest 
Virginia could furnish, and this was his condition when he began to 
preach; but with a success that turned out to be wonderful, he be- 
gan the labor of self-education while performing the duties of a 
Methodist Circuit Rider, and the persistence and will power in 
this work displays him as one of greatest personalities of his day. 
His culture is admirably proven in his application, quotation and 
great appreciation of extracts from some of the best poets. He 
never mis-applied a quotation or used inferior or hackneyed poetical 
lines. His mastery of strong and spectacular English was com- 
plete and his vocabulary ample for all the purpose of a preacher, 
a political orator or a doctrinal controversialist. His use of 
malediction was marvelous, and the high dexterity and joyous 
enthusiasm with which he resorted to it, showed great capacity 
by gift of nature rendered increasingly efficient and skillful by 
much usage. 

His physical, moral and political courage were excelled by no 
man of his time, or any time, and the title ‘‘the fighting Parson’ 
came to be applied to him naturally as something proper and to 
‘be expected. In the three sided battle in which Graves and Ross 
were the other two contestants, students of the times lean to the 
theory that Graves and Ross and their respective followings had 
made up their minds to crush Brownlow and drive Methodism 
out of the country. Baptists and Presbyterians were first in the 
field and best entrenched in Tennessee and the South West, and 
naturally wanted no rival in their way. Ross and Graves did not 
turn their guns on each other but on the Methodists, John Wesley 
and Parson Brownlow, the latter being the one champion among 
the Methodists who had all the stalwart qualities of brain and 
heart necessary to hold his own against his two masterful antag- 
onists combined. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 217 


Brownlow clearly appreciated the fact that in assaulting Graves 
and Ross personally he was dealing some exceedingly hard blows. 
In the dedication to his book ‘‘The Great Iron Wheel Examined,” 
he presents this apology to the public: 

“The author here most respectfully as a local preacher of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, apologizes to the church 
public for the seeming severity of this work in some parts, on the 
ground that he has performed the painful task of refuting a series 
of the most scurrilous falsehoods and a collection of the lowest 
abuse of the age.” = 


PARSON BROWNLOW’S BOOKS. 


Parson Brownlow’s book ““The Iron Wheel Examined”’ contains 
331 closely printed pages; his “Life of Henry Clay’’, 349 pages; 
his ‘“‘Parson Brownlow’s Book,”’ 458 pages; and the bound volume 
of his ‘“Monthly Review’’ for the years 1847, 1848 and 1849, 384 
pages; his “Help to the Study of Presbyterianism’”’ which will be 
noted hereafter, 299 pages. 


THE BROWNLOW AND PRYNE DEBATE IN PHILADELPHIA. 


We said heretofore that Parson Brownlow was a loyal Union 
man and that he was loyal to the South on the subject of slavery. 
In the city of Philadelphia beginning September 7th 1858, a public 
debate was commenced by Parson Brownlow and Rev. Abram 
Pryne, on the question ‘“‘Ought American Slavery to be Perpet- 
uated?” Brownlow taking the affirmative and Pryne the neg- 
ative. The debate began on Tuesday and continued for five days 
in the afternoon of each day. The disputants alternated in open- 
ing the discussion from day to day. 

The Brownlow Knoxville Whig has the following to say about 
this unique debate. 


“OUR DISCUSSION IN SEPTEMBER. 


‘“The reader will see from the following correspondence that the 
battle spoken of in many of the newspapers comes off on Tuesday, 
the 7th of September, in the City of Philadelphia, between the 
editor of this paper and the Rev. Abram Pryne, a Congregational 
minister, and the editor of the anti-slavery paper, published in Mc- 
Grawville, Courtland County, New York, styled the ‘Central 
Reformer.’ The following challenge appears in his Reformer for 
March 10, 1845: 


“REV. MR. BROWNLOW AND SLAVERY.”’ 


“The public will remember that this gentlemen has challenged 
the friends of freedom in the North to debate with him as to the 
merits and demerits of slavery. His very elaborate challenge has 
not been accepted unless it be a conditional acceptance from 


218 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Frederick Douglass. I now propose to reduce the question to a 
single proposition sweeping the entire area of the subject, and in 
that form, I challenge him to its dicussion. The proposition I 
would state as follows:” 

“Ought American Slavery be Abolished ?” 

“This question to be reversed when the debate is half through 
and to be stated as follows:”’ 

“Ought American Slavery to be perpetuated ?”’ 

““He may select the time and place of holding the debate, I only 
stipulating that it shall be in the state of New York, and that I 
shall have four weeks notice between his acceptance of my challenge 
and the commencement of the debate. 

‘““As my name may not have reached him, I may state that like 
Mr. Brownlow, I am a clergyman and editor, and will take the 
liberty to refer him to the Hon. Gerret Smith, Hon. J. R. Giddings, 
Dr. Mark Hopkins, President of Williams College, and Rev. Wm. 
Calkins, President of the New York Central College, McGrawville. 

‘Abram Pryne.”’ 


BROWNLOW 'S REPLY: 


“Morristown, Tennessee, April 20, 1858. 
“Rev. Abram Pryne, 
“Sik: 

“Tn your issue of an abolition paper of the 10th ultimo styled the 
Central Reformer, and of which you seem to be the ostensible 
editor, you challenge me to meet you in debate on the slavery ques- 
tion. You say you are a ‘clergyman and also an editor,’ and for 
your character you refer me to several distinguished abolitionists. 

‘There are two points of information I wish from you before 
I accept your challenge. First, what church are you connected 
with? Next, are you a white man or a gentlemen of color?” 

“Respectfully,” 


“William G. Brownlow, 
“Editor of Knoxville Whig.” 


Mr. Pryne replied that his father was a Scotchman and that 
there was no negro blood in his viens, so the debate was agreed 
upon. 

It attracted great attention all over the Union. Large crowds 
attended it and paid admission fees to get to hear it, and the Phil- 
adelphia papers had reporters present at every one of the discus- 
sions. Parson Brownlow dealt with the subject historically and 
treated it in detail from the first introduction of slaves in America, 
and showed just how the American people had been educated in 
reference to it. His argument was very strong. ; 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 219 


Mr. Pryne’s speeches were not remarkable for strength, and 
consisted mainly in an effort to show that slavery was abstractly 
and intrinsically wrong. 

The debate was published in book form during the year 1858 
by the two disputants and they shared equally in the proceeds of 
the sale of the books. 

In 1834 when Parson Brownlow had been a Circuit Rider for 
eight years in Tennessee, North and South Carolina and other 
sections, he published a book at Frederick S. Heiskell’s 
printing office in Knoxville, the exact title page of which is as 
follows: 

“HELPS TO THE 
STUDY OF PRESBYTERIANISM 
OR 
““AN UNSOPHISTICATED EXPOSITION OF CALVINISM WITH 
HOPKINSIAN MODIFICATION AND POLICY, WITH 
A VIEW TO AN EASY INTERPRETATION OF THE SAME, 
TO WHICH IS ADDED 
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF THE 
AUTHOR. 
INTERPOSED WITH ANECDOTES BY 
WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW, 
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 
“For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; 
and hid, that shall not be made known’’—Christ. 
“Knoxville, Tennessee. 
“‘Frederick S. Heiskell, Printer, 
“1834. 

It is from this book that we quote in the next chapter the nara- 
tive of the life, travels and circumstances incident thereto, of 
William G. Brownlow. This narative is unique and affords a 
detailed-picture of the life in Tennessee and Western North Caro- 
lina at the time, and is reproduced in full and just as Parson Brown- 
low included it in his book. His book is long since out of date 
and the author feels that his narative should be preserved. 

One cannot fully appreciate the bitterness of the doctrinal 
controversies between Brownlow, Graves and Ross, without seeing 
actual quotations from the three, and to that end, we print quota- 
tions from Brownlow and Graves. The trend of Ross’ argument 
and teachings can be seen by references to him in the extracts 
from Brownlow. 

Brownlow’s attacks were personal and largely directed at 
Graves and Ross individually; while Graves and Ross turned their 
batteries on the Methodist Church, with a shot here and there at 


Brownlow personally. 


220 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


QUOTATIONS FROM BROWNLOW’S “‘GREAT IRON WHEEL EXAMINED.” 


“J. R. Graves edits the ‘Tennessee Baptist’ at Nashville, a 
paper published at Nashville, having quite a large circulation, and 
being now in the twelfth year of its existence. His paper is a low, 
dirty, scurrilous sheet, and is so regarded by many of the intelligent 
Baptists of the country, who refuse to patronize it. And why? 
Because, as they say, it is conducted by a man who cannot elevate 
himself above the level of a common blackguard—a’ man who 
habitually indulges in language toward other Christian denom- 
inations which would hardly be tolerated within the precincts of 
Billingsgate, or the lowest fish-market in London! No epithet 
is too low, too degrading, or disgraceful, to be applied to the bish- 
ops, ministers, and usages of the Methodist Church. The con- 
temporaries of the ‘Baptists’ usually shun coming into contact 
with it as they would avoid a night-cart, or other vehicle of filth; 
and decent men of the Baptist persuasion have been known to 
throw the slanderous sheet from their doors with shovel or tongs, 
disdaining to touch it with their hands. As some fish are said to 
thrive only in muddy water, so the paper of which I am speaking 
would not exist one year out of the atmosphere of slang and vitup- 
eration. It administers to the very worst appetites of mankind; 
and whether speaking of the most eminent bishop or minister, the 
purest of the sainted dead, the venerable FOUNDER of Meth- 
ism, or the excellent institutions of said Church, it pursues the same 
strain of vulgar and disgusting abuse. It is enough for a man, 
woman or child to have been baptized by a Methodist minister, 
or by one received into their church, to insure the ill-will and con- 
temptuous denunciations of the editor of that vehicle of falsehood 
and defammation; whilst, on the other hand, he can see no demerit 
in one who has been immersed by a Baptist preacher, and he can 
take into his felléwship a prostitute, and hug to his bosom a bur- 
glar, if they had been baptized by immersion! With him, the 
Baptist Church is the only kingdom of God on earth, and to find 
fault with any of its doctrines, ordinances, or abusive preachers, 
is to sin against the Holy Ghost! With him, no virtue, no honor, 
no truth, exists anywhere but in the breasts of partisans of his 
own ‘faith and order,’ and no vice or immorality is found but 
with the members of other churches.’’—Page 20. 

‘The whole tenor of Graves’s course, editorially, has been that 
of a vagabond politician, who expected to live only by excitement— 
making ruffian-like attacks upon private character, committing all 
manner of excesses, standing preeminent in selecting themes for 
lying, and the lowest and most scurrilous abuse of Methodist 
preachers. He has made repeated attacks upon me, through his 
paper, with a view to engage me in a controversy upon points of 
doctrine and Church policy. I was engaged in defense of one of 
the political parties of the country, and in promoting the internal 
improvement schemes of our State, and did not choose to occupy 
my columns in a controversy of this kind with a humiliating spec- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 221 


tacle of vice and depravity literally crawling in the dust of conten- 
tion. This unwillingness of mine to bandy epithets with an inflated 
gasometer, whose brain I believed to be a mass of living, creeping, 
crawling, writhing, twisting, turning, loathsome vermin, he politely 
construed into a want of courage on my part to encounter the caitiff 
of the “Tennessee Baptist.’ I confess to a want of moral courage 
to meet one who eats carrion like the buzzard, and then vomits the 
mass of corruption upon decent human beings.”—Page 23. 

“Take J. R. Graves in his length and breadth, in his height and 
and depth, in his convexity and concavity, in his manners and in 
his propensities and he isa very little man, but in that little- 
ness there is combined all that is offensive and disagreeable among 
Christian gentleman. For several years past, in portions of 
several states, with an unearthly din, this man has been barking, 
neighing, bleating, braying, mewing, puffing, swaggering, strutting; 
and in every situation, an offensive smell, to gentlemen of refined 
tastes and Christian habits, has gone outfrom him! And believ- 
ing the homely old adage, that ‘he who lies down with dogs must 
rise up with fleas,’ he has been permitted to pass unwhipped by 
justice.” —Page 26. 

_ “J. R. Graves, of Nashville, and ‘Editor of the Tennessee Bap- 
tist,’ claims to be one of the clerical successors of the apostles; 
and by virtue of his lineal descent from John the Baptist, claims, 
in connection with the ministers of his own ‘iaith and order,’ the 
exclusive right of administering the ordinances of the Church, ex- 
clusive qualifications to instruct mankind in the important doc- 
trines of salvation, and, as a matter of course, to reform the 
manners and customs of the several spurious sects of the country.”’ 
Page 243. 

“TI propose to show that Graves has perpetrated TWENTY-FIVE 
FALSEHOODS in one chapter of this book, a short chapter at that, 
composed of only twelve pages, making more than two lies to a 
page. Not so bad for one of the successors of the apostles, in a 
direct lineal descent from John the Baptist! The chapter I allude 
to is Chapter 20th, commencing on page 225; and I declare, upon 
the honor of one who expects to give an account in the future to 
the Judge of all men, that this is but a fair specimen of the other 
thirty-nine chapters of his book!’’—Page 243. 


“CHAPTER XV. 


“Three specimens of deliberate lying—A vulgar, false, and 
slanderous caricature of a Methodist revival! The challenge by 
the North Carolina Publishing Society of the Baptist Church— 
Replies of Doctors Lee and Deems—Graves publicly caned for slan- 
der—The Baptist ‘Western Recorder’ against Graves, alluding to 
his Church troubles in Nashville—His abuse at Bowling Green— 
Damages obtained against Graves in Tennessee for libel, to the 
extent of $7,500—Mortgages all his property away, under peculiar 
circumstances—Page 254. 


222 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


> 66 


QUOTATIONS FROM GRAVES’ “GREAT IRON WHEEL.” 


“Look at the distracted state of Christendom—look at Tennes- 
see and the southwest! What a spectacle! The so-called Christ- 
ian churches armed in bitter hostility! Methodists and Baptists 
engaged in an exterminating warfare. Presbyterians and Method- 
ists in East and West Tennessee unchurching and unchristianizing 
each other, and pronouncing each other’s peculiar doctrinal teach- 
ing dangerous to the souls of men! ... Will Tennessee or the world 
ever be christianized so long as this state of things exist? Will the 
world ever believe on Christ? If all the world were this day con- 
verted and banded under the colors of these hostile parties would 
it be a millenium? Peace would no more be restored than now. 
Since opposites and contradictories must of necessity antagonize 
but storms of tenfold fury await the years to come. What we 
now feel is but the breathings of a zephyr in comparison to the 
whirlwind that is rushing upon us. The great questions of this 
age are, ‘Which of all the claimants is the true Church of Christ? 
Ought Christ Jesus alone to be obeyed in religious matters, or may 
the authority of Bishops and Elders be regarded ?,’—Page 16. 


“LETTER XV. 


‘““Methodism a Great Iron Wheel—a Clerical Despotism, and 
yet American Christians tolerate and support it.”—Page 158. 


“LETTER XVI. 


“Methodism the Popery of Protestantism—as absolute and all 
controlling as Jesuitism—Papal Bishops.’—Page 169. 


USI KOI 


“The Roman Catholic features—the Doctrine of the Power of 
the ‘Keys’ held by the Methodist Clergy in common with the Pope. 
The Divine right to govern held by the Methodists in common with 
the Pope and Priests of Rome. Methodist Ministers claim the 
‘power to admit into, and exclude from their societies whomsoever 
they please, and the Discipline grants them the power.”—Page 234. 

“LETTER XXIV. 
“THE EPISCOPACY AND THE PEOPLE. 
“DEDICATED TO AMERICAN METHODISTS. 

“The principles of legitimate Governments—Man’s inalienable 
Rights—They cannot be conceded or alienated without Sin— 
They cannot be usurped without Impiety—What is a Tyranny and 
a Despotism, according to Bishop Bascom ?—Methodism proven 
to be a Tyranny, a clerical Despotism, Anti-American in its Genius 
and Tendency—Republicanism backwards—A New Definition of 
Methodism and an Illustration.”—Page 276. 


“LETTER XXVI. 
‘NTE PECULIAR DOCTRINES AND USAGES OF METHODISM. 
“A Calvinistic Creed, a Popish Liturgy, and an American 
Clergy.’’—Page 327. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 223 


QUTOTATIONS FROM ““BROWNLOW’S MONTHLY REVIEW,” FOR 1847, 
1848, 1849, BOUND VOLUME. 


“In the October No. of the Calvinistic Magazine, Mr. Ross 
boasts of his being sustained in this war upon Methodism by the 
members and friends of his church, and mentions quite a number 
of Ministers and Periodicals, who sustain him in his views, even of 
class and band meetings! We believe with Mr. Ross, that he is 
sustained in his course towards the Methodist. We have proof 
of this that none can doubt. Indeed, disguise the fact as much as 
the Presbyterian Church may, it is well known, and extensively 
known, that the present state of disorder and quarrel is not on 
account of any controverted point of faith or doctrine, as alleged— 
it is a strife between despotism on the one hand, and free principles 
on the other; it is a strife between the DESPOTISM OF PRES- 
BYTERIANISM, and the CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY OF 
METHODISM. In proof of this, their church has opened a fire 
upon us, from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. They have bearded 
us in our own dominions, with every circumstance of insult and 
violence, from the gentleman of refinement and character, down to 
the brutal illegimate of Scotch and African mixture! The Meth- 
odist church has long watched the movements of the hoary Mon- 
archy and subtle Diplomacy of Presbyterianism. She has now 
resolved to face up to both, and will bear herself in the storm with 
heroic front, till the world shall see a glorious triumph of the Rights 
of Man! She will maintain her right to a place among the Church- 
es of the country; and in doing so, deny the right of Civil Author- 
ities, at the call of F. A. Ross and Co., to put her down. She 
will insist, from the pulpit, through the press, and even on the 
stump, before the populace, that her peculiar institutions, are not 
‘death to all the institutions for which Washington fought and 
freedom died’—that her form of government is not ‘a naked des- 
potism’—that her system of doctrines is not ‘a debauched pietyism,’ 
which renders ‘true moral character subordinate and degraded’— 
and that her ministry, is not ‘an irresponsible ministry,’ as charged 
by the Magazine, over the imposing names of Isaac Anderson, 
Fred A. Ross, James King and James McChain.”—Page 4. 

““ We repeat, that we are not unapprised of the evils which 
flow from such a divided state of Christian society, as exists at 
present, in all this section of country, and we deplore them as 
sincerely, as does any man in the country. The controversy has 
already burst assunder the bounds of Christian love, and prevented 
that harmonious and affectionate intercourse among Christians 
which is one of the chief enjoyments of social religion. It has in- 
fused jealousies, fanned the flame of discord, set friends, brethren, 
and families, at variance, and shattered whole communities into 
factions and parties. It has kindled contentions and heart burn- 
ings, produced envyings, animosities, and hatred of neighbors and 
brethren, and, in not a few instances, burst asunder the strongest 
ties of natural affection—while it has led professed Christians to 


\ 


224 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


violate the plainest dictates of humanity and of natural justice. 
It has excited a feverish zeal for the peculiarities of a sect, at the 
head of which an unworthy man is placed, while the distinguishing 
features of Christianity, have either been overlooked or trampled 
under foot. It has wasted money unnecessarily, in publishing and 
republishing the slanders of a ruffan and hypocrit, which might 
have been devoted to the promotion of the interests of our common 
Christianity. It has even corrupted fire-side conversations, in- 
fused into them a spirit of false-hood in apologies, for a self-im- 
portant gladiator, whom we have sought to excuse, with a firm 
conviction of his guilt. Nay, more and worse, it has corrupted our 
prayers, infused into them human passions, and a spirit of per- 
secution, and a party, confining them to the narrow limits of a 
sect, as if the God of all grace, whom we profess to adore, were 
biased by the same low prejudices which control us, and dispensed 
his favors according to our contradicted views. All this, and more, 
has this controversy done for this section, for the evil consequences 
of which, Ross and his supporters are justly responsible.’””—Page 8. 


‘“THE CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. 


‘““The Christian Observer, now in the 26th year of its existence, 
is a Presbyterian paper published in Philadelphia, and edited by 
the Rev. A. Converse, D. D., a veteran hater of Methodism. All 
the tolerant, ferocious, and contemptuous publications against 
Methodism, which meet the eye of Mr. Converse, he transfers to 
his columns with eagerness and delight. Such slander, for in- 
stance, as Mr. Ross’ ‘Iron Wheels,’ against Class Meetings, and 
private character, he considers as divine, actually dictated and 
authorized by God himself! 

“In the Observer of Sept. 24th, the ‘meek and lowly,’ “Mr. 
Converse says: 

“The low and vituperative manner in which Mr. Brownlow, 
a Methodist preacher, and others, have assailed Mr. Ross. in- 
stead of answering his arguments, appear like a concession to 
the truth of his main positions, as well as a singular exhibition of 
a influence of clerical power on the bearing and ea of gentle- 
Pace 39% 


“T dreaméd I steed outside of hell, 
Dark walls, and cries, and groans Bal yells, 
Heard faintly, from afar within 
That dark abode of pain and sin. 
Louder and louder on the ear 
Those murmurs broke, and seemed more near 
To be advancing; like the roar 
Of some dark storm cloud breaking o’er 
A mighty forest, old and still; 
And rushing on o’er vale and hill. 
Curses and imprecations dire, 
Terms of contempt and vengeful ire, 
From myriad tongues, I now could hear 
Each moment seeming still more near. 


ion) 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 22 


Toward where I stood, the tumult drew, 

And hell’s broad gates wide open flew; 
Out rushed a being sore in haste 

By demons, imps and devils chased, 
‘Drive him far off!’ loud Satan cried, 

‘And you, gate keeper, woe betide, 
If e’er within these walls is seen 

Another being half as mean!’ 
A friend came near, I said, Pray tell, 

Is aught too mean, too vile, for hell! 
Who can that wretched being be, 

Whom thou has forced so far to flee 
From this dark den of sin and shame? 

Tell whence he came, and what his name. 
He grinned a smile of fiend-like mirth, 

And said, A Slanderer from earth.’’ 


“In the Calvinistic Magazine for August, 1846, Mr. Ross 
says: 

“But the broad fact remains, after all concessions, that Meth- 
odism is a debauched pietyism, in which the imagination has run 
wild, and passion, bodily sympathy and mysticism are supreme, 
while true moral character is subordinate and degraded. We 
speak out, and challenge examination. We speak out, and say, 
that rottenness is the very bones of the moral system created by 
Methodism, to an awful extent.” 


“IN THE MAGAZINE, FOR NOVEMBER, 1846, MR. 
ROSS THUS DISCOURSETH: 

“It is sometimes asked, with great greenness, what business 
have we, the Editors of the Calvinistic Magazine, with the Meth- 
odist system?... We answer—just the same business we would 
have, if a man living in the same house with us, had a barrel of 
gunpowder in his room. We think we should have the right to 
get that powder out of the house. So, we have the right to expose 
Popery, and Prelacy and Methodism, as dangerous to the civil 
and religious liberty of our country.”’ 


“IN THE MAGAZINE, FOR APRIL, 1847, IN THE SEC- 
OND NO. OF THE “GREAT IRON WHEEL,” MR. ROSS 
SAYS: 

“We have often remarked a peculiar insensibility, as a charac- 
teristic of the Methodist common mass, a peculiar insensibility 
to moral honor and integrity of character. We have not dropped 
this sentence in hasty writing. We say deliberately—it is so—it 
is so—wide and deep.”—Page 101-102. 


““AND SPEAKING OF METHODISM, ON PAGE 135, OF THE 
SAME NO. QUOTED ABOVE, MR. ROSS SAYS: 


“Tt hardens the conscience to moral obligations. It pros- 
trates body and soul under the feet of an irresponsible ministry. It 
injures the piety of the good man. It encourages hypocrisy. It 
must, if fully developed, demoralize society.” 


15 


say 21 
nee 


226 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘AND IN THIS ARTICLE OF THE ‘GREAT IRON WHEEL,’ 
MR. ROSS ADDS: 


“Tt is astounding that any set of men, after the American Rey- 
olution, should have dared to fabricate, and set in motion, this 
great Iron Wheel of the Itinerancy! Just look at it, and you see 
it is a perfect system of passive obedience, and non-resistence. 

“The thing is a naked despotism—imperial power, in an ec- 
clesiastical aristocracy, unblushingly avowed and gloried in. 

“The system is dangerous to our liberties, civil and ‘religious. 
It ought to be understood, and done away by public opinion, en- 
lightened by the spirit of the Bible; and the movement to do it 
away cannot be too soon. 

“The Methodist system is death to all the institutions for 
which Washington fought and freedom died.’’—Pages 102-103. 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


Painted in New York City by Samuel L. Waldo in 1840 or 1841 on a panel which is now in the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art, New York City. This panel picture is thought to be the original of the portrait of Jackson 
that hangs in the Mayor’s office, New Orleans, Louisiana, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 227 


Tee asl ee ees eT 
CHAPTER 10. 


Narrative of the life, travels and circumstances 
incident thereto, of William G. Brownlow, 
"i written by himself. 


eee eee ee eee ae aaa se aoe Se See SeoeSeR 2S 


“Few persons, who have arrived at any degree of eminence in 
life, have written memorials of themselves, that is, such as have 
embraced both their private and public life; but many, very many, 
who never arose to anything like eminence in this life, have written 
such memorials of themselves; therefore, knowing as I do, that I 
have never arisen to anything like eminence, and that it is the 
custom of such only, to write out a full history of themselves, I 
proceed to the performance of the task. However, the public 
transactions of many great men, have been recorded by their con- 
temporaries or themselves, apparently too with the best of motives; 


‘but why such and such things occurred, and are thus recorded; 


and why such and such other events which are not related, have 
been passed by in silence, we are rarely told. 

“Now, I maintain, that the bad as well as the good acts of a 
man should be related; and then, the reader, having the whole 
man before him, is the better prepared to award to him a righteous 
verdict. But it will, perhaps, be urged, that a man should so con- 
duct himself as to be wholly free from improprieties,—especially 
a minister of the gospel. To this I reply, that if the memoirs of 
only such as have lived and died without fault, were written, we 
should seldom, if ever, see a production of the kind. 

“But if there be more evil than good attached to a man, what 
are we todo? Why, put your veto upon him, and determine not 
to follow his footsteps. But what shall we do when there is more 
good than evil attached to the life and travels of a man? Why, 
faithfully relate the whole, and then profit by his example, in that 
he has done good. But when the scale is so perfectly poised that 
neither end preponderates, what shall we do? Why, balance 
accounts and strike off even! ‘ 

“Few men can be said to have inimitable excellencies, or inim- 
itable failings; let us watch them in their progress from infancy to 
manhood, and we shall soon: be convinced that while we imitate 
their virtues, we should shun their vices. Then to profit by the 
past lives and conduct of others, we should exhibit them in full. 
This done, we cannot fail to receive benefit by an attentive perusal 
of what has past, unless we are ‘such as cannot teach, and will not 
learn.’ 

“That a man, engaged solely in thework of propagating christian- 
ity—in carrying the light of the gospel among the people—in 
opposing error, and defending the cause of truth—and, finally, in 
going about it like his Saviour, endeavoring to do good to all, 


228 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


should find himself exposed to enemies, or should meet with opposi- 
tion, may seem strange! But history and observation inform us, 
that this has been the lot of all public men, in a greater or less de- 
degree. While some emblazon a man’s virtues, others will amplify 
his faults. A majority, however, labor 


‘The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,’ 


rather than pursue the opposite course; and, it is not unlikely, that 
on this account, so few public characters have justice done them. 

“Again: While the shafts of unmerited censure are hurled 
against some men, and they are doomed to bear the base insinua- 
tions of invidious tongues, they never-the-less rise to victorious 
eminence, having to all appearance, taken fresh courage from the 
circumstance! But alas for others! They seem to sink beneath 
the load, and, with the poet they are ready to exclaim: 


‘While sorrow’s encompass me round, 
And endless distresses I see: ‘ 
Astonish’d I cry! can a mortal be found, 
That’s surrounded with troubles like me.’ 


“Perhaps it may be asked, who is the person that offers this 
volume to the world? In this the inquisitive reader shall be 
gratified, for short and simple are the domestic annals of one who 
has not even reached his thirtieth year. I am the eldest son of 
Joseph A. Brownlow, who was born and raised in Rockbridge coun- 
ty, in Virginia, in the year 1781, and died in Blountville, in Ten- 
nessee, in the year 1816. My father died when I was so young 
that I could not have been a judge of his character —but it has 
been a source of comfort to me, to hear him spoken of by his old 
associates, as a man of good sense, brave independence, and great 
integrity. 

“The death of my father was a grevious affliction to my mother, 
as she was left with five helpless children, three sons and two daugh- 
ters, all of whom are still living. Her maiden name was Catherine 
Ganaway, a Virginian likewise, and of respectable parentage. 
But she departed this transitory life in less than three months 
after the death of her husband. Being naturally mild and agree- 
able in her temperament, she was strongly endeared to a large 
circle of friends and acquaintances. But their consolation is in 
this, that when sinking into the cold embrace of death, she was 
happy in the religion of Christ. 


“However, accounts of the parentage of a man, unless con- 
nected with some very peculiar circumstances, are generally un- 
interesting; and more particularly, when their names are not 
intimately interwoven with the history of their own country, or of 
any other. Besides this, if a man’s parents, whether dead or 
alive, are known to have possessed great merits, they will be ap- 
preciated, and therefore need not to be blazoned by the pen of 
eulogy. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 229 


“T was born (and chiefly raised) in Wythe County, in Virginia. 
After the death of my parents, I lived with my mother’s relations, 
till within three years of the time I joined the Methodist itinerancy, 
and was appointed to labor as a circuit preacher. I can say—and 
I think it my duty not to pass over the fact in this brief narrative, 
that I feel towards those relations for their parental care over me, 
a degree of gratitude and affection, which can only spring from the 
laws of nature, and the social relations of life. 

“As to the days of my childhood, they passed away as those 
of other children, carrying with them the pleasures and pains, com- 
mon to that season. I could, however, relate many interesting 
incidents, connected with the history of my boyhood; but lest 
I justly incur the charge of egotism, I will pass them by in silence. 

“At a very early period in my life I had impressions of a religious 
nature, which were never erased from my mind; and though I made 
no profession of religion until I arrived within two years of mature 
age, and was even rude, yet, I had the utmost respect for professors 
of religion, and particularly ministers of the gospel. 


“During the month of September, in the year 1825, at which 
time I resided in Abingdon, I attended a camp-meeting, at the 
Sulpher Springs, twenty miles east of that, when it pleased God to 
give me the witness of the Spirit. There is a concentration of 
feeling.—a glow of fancy,—I may say of religious affection, con- 
nected with the recollection of that circumstance, which I delight 
toenjoy. It was here I felt the Lord gracious, and was enabled to 
shout aloud the wonders of my redeeming love. All my anxieties 
were then at an end—all my hopes were realized—my happiness 
was complete. From this time I began to feel an increasing desire 
for the salvation of sinners; and in order, more effectually, to en- 
gage in this work, I returned to Wythe, and spent the ensuing year 
in going to school to William Horne, an amiable young man, and a 
fine scholar, who, poor fellow! has long since gone to his long home. 

“My education was plain, though regular in those branches 
taught in common schools. And even now, though I have en- 
deavored to study one science after another, and have been pouring 
over books, pamphlets, and periodicals of every description, by 
night and by day, for the last nine years, my pretensions are of the 
most humble kind. 

_ “At the second regular session of the Holston Annual Con- 
ference, held in Abngdon, Va., under the superintendence of 
Bishop Soule, in the fall of 1826, I was received into the traveling 
connection on trial, and appointed to the Black Mountain circuit, 
in North Carolina, under Goodson McDaniel. I had now to 
exchange the company of affectionate friends, for the society of 
persons with whom I had no acquaintance. This was a most 
affecting time, and will not soon be forgotten by the writer. I 
entered on the labors of this year with many painful apprehensions. 
There were not a few on this circuit, as I was previously informed, 
whose minds were very much prejudiced against the Methodists. 


230 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsTORY 


And to my astonishment, upon arriving there, I found our most 
inveterate foes to be professors of christianity! They were the 
followers of an old man, who used to go about ‘preaching in the 
wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent ye: for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand;—and who had ‘his raiment of camel’s hair, 
and a leathern girdle about his loins;’ his ‘meat’ being ‘locusts and 
wild honey ;—while the people flocked to him from ‘all the region 
round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing 
their sins!’ 

“T allude to a denomination of people called Baptists. This 
was my first acquaintance with these people. I had noaltercations 
with any of them, this year; nor did I attend their meetings, only 
when our appointments clashed at those union, or go-between 
meeting houses. Oneof those meetings, set apart for feet-washing, 
I never can forget. For, never did I, before or since, see as many 
big dirty feet, washed in one large pewter basin full of water! The 
Baptists are a people whose theory is so narrow, and whose creed 
is so small, that, like their shoes, they seem to have been made for 
their exclusive use. They consider them-selves deputed from 
heaven for the general reformation of men and manners, and would 
try all men at their bar. They are amazed to find that any one 
should doubt the accuracy of their system, because they are sat- 
isfied with it. Their judgment is biased, and resembles a pair 
of scales of which to beam is forever awry. General society, and 
particular religious associations, formed by other denominations, 
are so imperfect, they cannot endure them; and in the investiga- 
tion of their laws and rules, their aim is, not to enjoy that whith is 
right, but to exult over that which is wrong. ‘They survey creation 
through the medium of a contracted vision, and consequently forget 
that they are not the only persons, who have a claim upon the 
bounty of the skies. They pity all who differ from their persuasion, 
and wonder how it is that they can dream of being right. They 
revolve in a circle of which the centre is themselves. Those who 
are squeezed in with them are the lucky few; all without are dogs 
if not something worse. Unused to much thinking, and too im- 
patient to pursue it, petty purposes, and a kind of a pin’s head 
policy are all they compass! Still, they are struck: with the de- 
generacy of all around them! In these sweeping censures they 
never suspect the prejudices of their own minds; though they pro- 
duce a jaundiced yellowness on all they inspect. Of the truth of 
these things every body is sensible but themselves. Well, a little 
maggot in a nut shell might come to the same conclusions, and for 
a similar reason, because the little thing has a maggot’s mind! 

“The only misfortune which befell me this year, was that of 
having almost froze to death, on the 26th of December. Having 
led my nag over to Cain river, on the ice, I proceeded to cross a 
spur of the Black Mountain, when, I suppose, I came as near 
freezing to death, as ever any poor fellow did, to escape. Indeed, 
upon arriving at a small cabin, on the opposite side of the mountain, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 231 


I was so benumbed with the cold, that I was not only perfectly 
stupid, but extremely sleepy. Here I began to discover, that in 
exchanging the cold and salubrious atmosphere of my native up- 
lands in Virginia, I had not gained anything. However, there is 
no finer country in the summer season, than Western Carolina, 
or even the State of Buncombe, as it is sometimes called. There 
are few places in the world which can vie with the counties of 
Buncombe and Burke, in beauty and novel of scenery—the ex- 
tended hill-side fields, rich ridges, beautiful springs, mountain 
coves, high conical peaks, and astonishing verdure covering the 
soil, set off to the best advantage, the lofty Black Mountain! In 
the mean-time, the Table Rock is in the vicinity; and every season, 
the summer visitors add new and increasing interest, in their 
pursuit of deer, and other game. 

“Although we did not enjoy the pleasure of seeing hundreds 
converted this year, yet, we had every reason to believe that some 
good had been effected, through our feeble instrumentality. In 
the latter part of the year, the professors seemed much revived, 
and appeared to be alive to God. Upon the whole, in taking my 
leave of the circuit, I felt safe, well, and happy in my soul. May 
the Lord bless the good people of that county! 

“*1827.—In the fall of this year, our conference met in Knoxville, 
and the venerable Bishop Roberts presided, with his usual degree 
of cheerfulness and acceptability. Here, the recurrence of another 
aniversary occasion, in the history of our conference, called for the 
warmest expression of our gratitude to the great Head of the 
church, for having privileged us once more to mingle our praises and 
thanksgivings together. I will name one circumstance which occured 
during the sitting of the conference in Knoxville. It was this: A 
young storekeeper, a member of the Presbyterian church, drew up 
a subscription paper, and was, by way of burlesque, going about 
trying to raise money to have my likeness taken! I was called on 
to know if I would subscribe! I replied that I would subscribe 
liberally, if, when they had taken my likeness, they would deposit 
it in the East Tennessee College, or the Seminary at Maryville, for 
the inspection of Doctors Coffin and Anderson, and as a pattern for 
minister-making! ‘This reply, in view of the fact that I looked bad, 
was indifferently dressed, and had on a very old fashioned hat, 
rather confused the young Presbyterian. 


“At this conference I was appointed to French Broad circuit, 
lying mostly above Ashville, in North Carolina, under an excellent 
and agreeable little man, M. E. Kerr. We labored in this new 
appointment with increasing success, till the ensuing spring, when 
I was taken by my presiding elder, W. S. Mason, to travel the 
Maryville circuit, in lieu of James Cummings, then absent to gen- 
eral conference. 

“Here I could not avoid coming into contact with Anderson’s 
young divinity-shoots; for the impetuous little bigots, would assail 
me in the streets, or pursue me into private houses, and commence 


232 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


an argument on natural ability, or moral inability, or the impossi- 
bility of falling from grace. I fought manfully, and did the very 
best I could, though they always reported that they had used me up. 
I remained on this circuit but three months. Among the many 
circumstanceswhich occurred during my short stay on this circuit, 
I will only name the two following: 

“My appointment in Maryville happened on the Sabbath of 
the Hopkinsian sacrament, held at their camp-ground near the 
village; and as I had previously arranged by appointment to be in 
the after part of the day, I attended theirs, and heard them preach 
two or more sermons. Well, an inflated little priest by the name of 
Minis, who talked pretty much through his nose, and whose head 
seemd buried between his shoulders, apparently to make way for 
the proturberances of his back, addressed the congregation from “‘I 
would that ye were either hot or cold,” ete. In the elucidation of 
his subject, he went on to show that the Methodists were the luke- 
warm whom the Lord would vomit up, &c &c. He also went on 
to speak of our fasting, secret prayers, secret meetings, and of our 
down looks, and manner of dress; and finally, he represented us 
as being more hideous monsters than the Sphinx of Egypt! In 
describing the cut of a Methodist preacher’s coat, and trying to 
round it off with his finger, he seemed so exceedingly awkward, 
that I arose from my seat, and held one skirt of my coat saying, 
Sir, I presume this is the style you are aiming at! ‘This confused 
the little man so, that it was some time before he got started again. 
Soon after this, myself and Mr. Brown of the Hopkinsian order, 
happened to meet on Sabbath, in the vicinity of a little village 
called Louisville. Although Mr. Brown was as bad looking a man 
as I am, and not more talented, yet, he affected to treat me with 
great contempt! When the congregation had assembled,he com- 
menced reading his hymn, and as I thought a very appropriate one, 
towit: 

‘How sad our state by nature is, 
Our sin how deep it stains, &c.’ 


_ “Having prayed a long dry prayer, he proceeded to address the 
people from these words, ‘For God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only begotten son,’ &c. Well, having divided his subject 
into three parts, on he went, preaching to a mixed multitude, in 
the most lifeless manner imaginable. After the preacher closed 
we had an intermission of about forty minutes, when I endeavored 
to address the people from the same subject. And as he had tried 

‘to poke his fun at me, I took the liberty to pay him back; and really, 
when I was closing my remarks, he looked to me, more like hard 
times abridged, than a preacher of righteousness! From that day 
to this, I could never get Brown to know me. 

“About the first of July I took my leave of Blount County, and 
returned to my former circuit. Here we had wars and rumors of 
wars, but it was among the Hopkinsinians. During one single year 
no fewer than five clergymen of this order, came to Buncombe 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 233 


County, in quest of a call. Three of them struggled and fought 
for more than twelve months. They carried their disputes so far 
as to indulge in the most low and vulgar personal abuse, disputing 
and quarreling even about the money which was collected in hats 
at their sacremental meetings! One of them, Bradshaw, actually 
claimed, and kept the most of the money. Such strivings for 
the mastery, was never seen in that country before! ‘The result 
was, a division took place among the congregations, some voting 
for one preacher, and some for another. And the final result was, 
that many of the people determined to have nothing more to do 
with any of them. And Hall, the most furious of them all, fled to 
the lower part of the State, and I am told, has never been in Bun- 
combe since. Mooney, another one of the swarm, visited South 
Carolina, in quest of a call, and has chosen to remain there. How 
shocked must people have been to hear preachers incessantly cry- 
ing out that their reign was not of this world, when their infirmities 
were such, that they could not forbear quarrelling about a little 
money! But, while these unfortunate men were thus disputing, 
we Methodists travelled up and down the country, and endeavored 
to persuade the people that religion was the one thing needful. 
Some experienced religion, and a goodly number were added to our 
church this year. 

“There is no finer country, in the summer season, than that 
about the head waters of French Broad. ‘There the clear streams 
glide with smooth serenity, along the valleys;and when amidst a 
calm summer’s sunshine, they glitter to the distant view, like sheets 
of polished crystal, and soothe the attentive ear, with the softness 
of those aquatic murmurs so exhilirating to the fancy. But O, the 
huge, enormous mountains! the steep and dizzy precipices; the 
pendant horrors of the craggy promontories—how wild and awful 
they look of a rainey evening! 


‘The hoary winter here conceals from sight 

All pleasing objects that to verse invite, 

The Hills and dales, and the delightful woods, 
The flow’ry plains, and silver-streaming floods, 
By snow disguis’d in bright confusion lie, 
And with one dazzling waste fatigue the eye.’ 


‘Who can ever sufficiently admire the immense benignity of the 
Supreme Disposer of events? How maniold are the mercies of 
God, and how surprising the scenes of Providence! Adieu to those 
scenes, till the last loud trumpet of God shall sound; and until 
eruptions, earthquakes, comets, and lightnings, disgorge their blaz- 
ing magazines! 

**1828—In the autumn of this year, our annual conference 
convened in Jonesborough, and Bishop Soule again presided, des- 
spatching business with his usual promptness and acceptibility. 
In his sermon, on Sabbath, he certainly tore the very hind-site 
off of Calvinism! 


254) ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“At this conference, I received deacon’s orders, and was ap- 
pointed to travel in charge of the Washington circuit, a small cir- 
cuit in the lower end of East Tennessee. Here, I met with enemies, 
and for a time, had. my difficulties; I had a law-suit upon my 
hands, against potent adversaries, and my all depended on its 
issue. ‘The circumstances of the case I will briefly relate. An 
elder in the Hopkinsian church, who had long been distinguished 
for his violent opposition to Methodism, and particularly Meth- 
odist preachers, made an unwarrantable attack on me, by address- 
ing me an insulting letter; requesting an immediate reply from me, 
and a prompt avowal or disavowal of certain hearsays, mentioned 
in his letter. To this communication I replied with some degree 
of asperity. A rejoinder followed on the part of my adversary, in 
which he called me a puppy, a liar, an infidel, a fool, &e &e. To 
all this, I replied with a degree of moderation, though in a manner 
not very pleasing to my opponent. He then published some gar- 
bled extracts from my letters, in the Calvinistic Magazine. And 
I in turn, published the whole correspondence in pamphlet form 
with such additional remarks as I thought necessary. 

“My friend, then, promptly by certain other leading characters 
in the Hopkinsian church, as he himself afterwards acknowledged, 
instituted a suit of slander against me, in the superior court for 
Rhea County, and employed two able lawyers to prosecute the 
same. Well, as I always was disposed to stand up to my rack, as 
the saying is, I employed able counsel likewise—made out a plea 
of justification in full—subpoenaed witnesses near at hand—went 
on to West Tennessee to take the depositions of others,—and as 
Crockett says, prepared to go ahead. But, when the day of trial 
came on, the plaintiff, for reasons best known to himself, dismissed 
the suit at his own cost. And this was the end of the matter; save 
that, the Hopkinsians have uniformly represented me as the ag- 
gressor, and as having been outed! If the curious reader will take 
the pains to enquire of his honor, Charles F. Keith, or any one of 
my counsel, particularly Thomas L. Williams, he will learn that 
it was not the defendent who crawfished out of this affair. 

“But I found friends here, in the midst of all my embarrass- 
ments, whose hospitality and friendly conversation cheered my 
desponding youth. (For during the winter season, I had frequent 
and dangerous swimming of water courses, in the lower end of the 
circuit, and, to say nothing of my other privations, great mental 
affliction). And what was better than all, we were favored on 
parts of the circuit, with some drops of mercy, which were followed 
up with reviving showers of divine grace. The Lord added to 
our numbers greatly. The world, the flesh, and the devil, may 
array themselves against the Lord and his annointed, but it is of 
no avail. The Lord shall have them in derision. ‘These remarks 
are made with gratitude to God, for the success that crowned my 
feeble efforts under these forbidding circumstances. 

“Here it was, that I first became acquainted with the people 
called Cumberland Presbyterians,— I mean personally acquainted | 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 235 


with them. The leading object with these people, seems to be 
that of proselyting from other churches. ‘This is a most shameful 
practice. If these people were as anxious to persuade sinners to 
separate from the ranks of the devil, and join the church of God, 
as they are to proselyte members of other churches and get them 
to join their party—then would they exhibit the true missionary 
spirit. This was the first time in all my life, I ever understood 
that men were called of God, and ordained by the church, to go on 
a mission to convert those who had previously been converted! 
As a Methodist preacher, when ever this shall have become the 
business of my life, I know I shall appear both inconsistent and 
ridiculous in the eyes of every man of sense. 

“Tt was by hearing the Cumberlands preach, that I became 
fully convinced of the superior advantages of short sermons, al- 
though I have heard many of them preach, I do not recollect to 
have ever heard more than one who closed till he was completely 
out of strength, words and ideas! ‘This is a failing which attaches 
itself to the Baptist and Hopkinsian clergy likewise. Nor are 
all the Methodist preachers clear in this matter. ‘Too many min- 
isters, among the different denominations, tell all they know in 
One sermon, and some of them tell that all twice in the same dis- 
course! Others, will hum and haw, and tell what they intend 
to say, and negatively, what they will not say, and apologize, &c, 
till they should be half done preaching. All this I despise. In- 
deed there are but few ministers, if any, who can be justified in 
preaching more than an hour on any subject. ‘The great mass of 
the people, in every part of our country, are so accustomed to hear- 
ing the gospel, that all a preacher need do is, to give the leading 
ideas in his subject. A good sermon is better for being short, and 
to make a sorry sermon long, is out of the question! In a word, 
of all the deaths that ever any people died, there is none so dis- 
tressing as that of being preached to death! 

“Tn the latter part of October, in this year, I visited an uncle of 
mine, who then lived at the head of the Muscle Shoals in Alabama. 
Curiosity, or a desire to become acquainted with the Indian mode 
of living, led me to travel through the Cherokee nation, on to the 
south side of the Tennessee River. In doing so, I happened one 
night, after a hard day’s ride, to reach the house of a wealthy In- 
dian, a member of the Methodist church, where, soon! after my 
atrival, I met several Methodist missionaries, and Indian interpre- 
ters, on their way to the Tennessee Conference, which was soon to 
convene at Huntsville. The man of the house, in addition to beinga 
slave-holder, had a number of his relatives about him, living most- 
ly in cabins; so that, upen the whole, the yard was alive with human . 
beings! This was an interesting night to me. ‘Turtlefields, na- 
tive preacher, held prayers for us, and we had a feeling time. 
This man was naturally of a very intrepid and independent spirit; 
but, when engaged in the worship of God, his lion-like fierceness 
seemed gradually to melt down into the mildness of the lamb. 


236 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


After closing the exercises of the evening, I retired to bed, in a little 
open room, and there lay musing until a late hour. While thus 
occupied, sounds and circumstances of a very different character 
again and again arrested my attention. The night was exceed- 
ingly calm; every thing around me wore the aspect of perfect se- 
renity; while the stars, with their usual brightness, glittered in 
the firmament. But amidst this pleasing stillness, so favorable 
to contemplation, I heard a voice, yea, voices; and these were the 
voices of a few poor Indians, who, after chatting around their 
evening fires, were closing the day with hymns of praise and united 
prayed to heaven. Had any been here present, who are at all 
doubtful as the mind of an Indian being susceptible to the power 
of divine grace, I doubt not that they would have stood confounded, 
if not convinced. Since that time, however, I have attended 
several Methodist meetings in the Cherokee nation,and at several 
of them I have tried to preach. It is not less pleasing than en- 
couraging to observe, that those of our native preachers and in- 
terpreters, who are truly converted to God, are frequently found 
boldly, though unostentatiously, addressing the multitude upon 
divine subjects and fearlessly answering the objections that are 
urged by gainsayers, against the gospel. The substance of our 
sermons being familiarly reiterated by them, amidst the different 
groups around, the seed of truth is much more extensively spread 
abroad than even the missionary himself may be ready to imagine. 
By this means a kind of a new era is commencing in our Indian 
missions; so that, without greatly multiplying missionaries in a 
tribe, we shall be able to meet the wants of this scattered popula- 
tion; and without great expense promote the ever-blessed gospel, 
together with a rapidly increasing knowledge of the English lan- 
guage. It cannot be otherwise than that this is of God; and, to 
to my own mind, it appears with all the clearness of demonstration, 
that from year to year God is working out good for the Indians. 
“But it is not by means of these men only, that these people 
are zealously assisting us in the grand and glorious work of evan- 
gelization; the great Head of the church is raising up from among 
them, also to proceed with the everlasting gospel in their hands, 
to the savage hordes on our western frontiers. Like the vine, 
therefore, the church is here spreading forth her branches over the 
wall; and these wandering sons of Ham are sitting down under its 
shade, and partaking of its fruit. To God be all the praise. 


“Having paid my visit to the shoals, I returned via Huntsville, 
Winchester, Bellfonte, and Jasper. I remained in Huntsville dur- 
the week of conference, and was much gratified on becoming ac- 
quainted with many of the members of that conference. 

“*1829—In the fall of this year, our conference again met in 
Abingdon—Bishop Soule in the chair. This year I was appointed 
alone to the Athens circuit. At an early period in this year, I 
had occasion to call at the seminary in Maryville, to see a Meth- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 237 


odist student; and soon after I had entered his room, a young 
Hopkinsian minister slipped the following note to me, under the 
lower edge of the door: 

‘Sir:- Are you not fearful that you will break some 
of the old rooster’s eggs, when yeu slip into this instit- 
tution so much like a thief, waiting for an opportunity 
to steal something? 

“Your humble servant, 
Fearless’. c. 

“Tf the reader has perused the whole of thi- work, he will un- 
derstand the allusion to the ‘eggs,’ and will consequently be pre- 
pared to make the necessary allowance for the severity of my reply. 
There being a table, pen, ink and paper, all just at hand, I immedi- 
ately seated myself, and returned the parson the following answer: 

‘Sitting in the Southwest corner of the Factory! 
‘Reverend Sir :— 

‘In answer to your note just received, I have to observe, 
that I am not in any dread of breaking the eggs to which 
you allude, or of my doing any mischief; for I presume the 
old Rooster, is capable of taking care of his nest. As tomy 
slipping ‘into this institution so much like a thief, waiting 

or an opportunity to steal something,’ I would say, ,as 

Paul did by being a Roman, when in Rome, &c. Yes 
sir, when I am among thieves and robbers, I usually slip 
and slide about as they do! 


eh 


‘Yours, &c. 
‘Peter Thundergudgeon, the Crow Bar Grinder.’ 

‘Now, that mildness, meekness, and gentleness of disposition, 
should characterize every minister of the gospel, is a fact which no 
one will doubt; but that these graces can only be inspired in a 
naturally amiable and somewhat refined mind, by the sanctifying 
influences of christianity upon the heart, is equally true. And it 
is doubtless this commendable quality of the heart, this meekness 
and gentleness of conduct, which so completely removes the Meth- 
odist ministry from that haughty demeanor so characteristic of 
the Hopkinsian clergy, or of an unsubdued mind swelled with a 
false notfon of superiority over its fellows, and which betrays its 
possessor -into so many inconsistencies of conduct. While we 
instinctively turn with disgust from the man who assumes to him- 
self the claim of a dictator, and betrays on all occasions the vanity 
of his own mind by a supercilious contempt of others, we as nat- 
urally bow before the virtues of him who in his intercourse with 
his associates evinces a suitable deference to their opinions, and 
manifests that meekness and diffidence which arises from a thor- 
ough knowledge of his own heart. But these virtues only shine 
forth in the conduct of the followers of Him who said, ‘Learn of 
me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.’ 

“During this year, a high-toned professor of religion in Athens 
and a member of the Church of Christ, named a dog after me! In 


238 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


this, the Hopkinsians of Athens, considered they had completely 
over-matched me. As I rode through town one evening, in the 
midst of a company of them, I was enquired of as follows: 
‘Brownlow, did you know that the Hopkinsians of this place had 
called a dog after you’”’?, I replied that I had understood so. Said 
the gentleman, “Well, what do you think of it?’ O said I, if the 
dog is good pluck, and will hang to a hog when set on, &c., I have 
no objection to his being called after me, but if the dog is cowardly 
I shall not own him as a name-sake; for continued I, when I take 
after a Hopkinsian shoat, I make him charge and squeal all over 
the village. This caused the by-standers to laugh, but at the ex- 
pense of the owner of the dog. 


‘“‘Here, also, a violent attack was made on the institutions of 
our church, by a Hopkinsian minister, who wrote in defense of 
the, national societies, in the ‘Hiwassean and Athens Gazette,’ a 
scurrilous little paper, under Hopkinsian influence. To some of 
the many false statements and insinuations of this writer, I replied 
in an article of somelength. He continued to write, and I to answer 
him; but alas, the editor of the paper refused to publish for me, on 
the alleged ground, that he did not wish to admit into his columns 
anything like religious controversy. Still the Hopkinsian min- 
ister wrote on! 


“Not long after this, however, this conscientious editor ad- 
mitted some very severe anonymous articles into his columns a- 
gainst me, written by a Hopkinsian minister and physician, some- 
times called Lord Hackberry! Poor fellow! he has had his 
troubles since that. Subsequent events authorize me to address 
this man in the following language :— 


‘Your heart is gall—your tongue is fire— 
Your soul too base for generous ire— 
Your sword too keen for noble use— 
Your shield and buckler are—abuse.’ 


“Within the last four years, there have been meny such anony- 
mous pieces published against me; generally too by Calvinistic 
writers. But nothing looks more cowardly, than for an individual, 
or set of individuals, to be firing at a man in this way. And in- 
deed, none hide themselves under fictitious names, or appear 
without any name at all, but those who publish things of which 
they are ashamed. ‘The only protection a nameless scribbler can 
claim or expect, is, either his worthlessness, or the dark mantle 
in which he shrouds himself. And it is well for many of these 
anonymous writers, that their names are thus concealed; for if 
they were really known, in many ‘instances, they would have less 
credit for their statements. Such a course betrays a dastardly 
spirit; it is the resource of one who wants courage to avow his de- 
signs. All such, however, can peal away at me, without being in 
any way interrupted; for it does not comport with my views of 
self-respect to wage even a defensive war with a misnomer. For 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 239 


what I publish, my name is given as a voucher—for the truth or 
falsehood of the same, myself am held responsible. 

“If a man’s cause be a good one, why should he hide his face 
behind the curtain of secrecy? Does honesty need concealment? 
Do virtuous actions shun the pure and open light of day. Does 
honor--does religion seek to hide behind the mantle of night? No! 
No!!virtue, pure and unsullied virtue delights to bask in the 
sunshine of Heaven, and nothing is farther from real rectitude of 
conduct than concealment. Concealment is the companion of 
guilt; together they walk the gloomy path of crime and calumny; 
together they guide the assassin’s dagger to the heart of the un- 
conscious victim; and together laugh at the awful flames, that 
ascend in curling wreaths over the head of defenseless innocence. 
Nor is it at all unreasonable to suppose, that where things look 
thus dark and mysterious, there is something ‘rotten in the State 
of Denmark’! How ridiculous for men of honorable pretensions 
to act thus! But how much more so for men who are engaged in 
the sacred exercises.of the pulpit, proclaiming the will of God con- 
cerning man, to act thus! What! a man clothed in the reveren- 
tial habilments of a minister, who occupies a stand as the repre- 
sentative of the Almighty, and professes to be the organ of truth 
and righteousness, to degrade his character and profession, by 
stooping to the low and dirty practice of secret slander! Yet, 
hypocritical and unprincipled as the practice is, a Hopkinsian 
minister acted quite a conspicuous part in it, on the occasion to 
which I have special reference. Shameful! Worse than ridic- 
ulous!! Cromwell, O thou monster! blush at this conduct. Nero, 
O thou bloody monster! rebuke such ministers. Thou Inquisi- 
tion of Spain, turn pale at the bare mention of this prostitution 
of the sacred office! Of all the abominations that disgrace and 
dishonor the ministry in these portentous times, I know nothing 
more deserving of reprobation, than the prostitution of the sacred 
functions, for purposes so base! 

“On this circuit, during this year, we had a considerable revival 
in our church. In short, the fallow ground of many a heart, there 
is reason to believe, was broken up and the seed sown in right- 
eousness, which brought forth fruit to the honor and glory of God. 
This, to me, was truly refreshing, after having encountered those 
severe trials the year before. It was meeting with a verdant 
Oasis in the midst of an African desert, or the shadow of-a great 
tock in a weary land. It was like the dew of Hermon sweetly 
distilling upon the mountains of Zion; and many of the hospitable 
members, amd worthy local preachers of that circuit, can bear 
witness that ‘there the Lord commanded a blessing, even life for 
evermore.’ 

“T feel grateful to my friends and acquaintances on the Athens 
circuit, for the courtesies I received from them, but more so to 
that being who, in his infinite mercey, has protected me in every 
peril; and to whom I now say: 


240 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘For this, my life, in every state, 

A life of praise shall be: 

And death, when death shall be my fate, 
Shall join my soul to Thee.’ 


1830——About the last of October, in this year, our conference 
met at Ebenezer in Greene County. Bishops M’Kendree and 
Soule were both present—the latter presided. At this conference 
I received elder’s orders, and was appointed to travel in charge of 
the Tellico Circuit, in the Hiwassee district. For the first three 
or four tours round this circuit, I labored with increasing success, 
but it was not long till I discovered there were some stumbling 
blocks in some of the societies, or obstacles to the influence of 
religion, which it was necessary to remove. Hence, I set about 
the work of reform; and in a very short time, I had not only ascer- 
tained the real state of the societies, but as I believe, actually 
bettered their condition. In the little town of Madisonville, 
there were several malcontents belonging to our society, who gave 
us some trouble before we could get rid of them’. 

“The exercise of proper discipline in the church requires much 
wisdom, and not a little fortitude; and in proportion to the dis- 
ordered state in which a minister may find that part of the Lord’s 
vineyard he is called to labor in, will be his difficulty; generally 
those who are accustomed to break our rules, do so from a secret. 
repugnance to them—the lukewarm and the worldly-minded re- 
spect the rules of the church so far as they suit their convenience; 
and it is not always the case that men have influence in a church 
in consequence of their more exalted piety. “The duty of the min- 
ister, however, lies plain before his eyes: let him scrupulously 
and vigilantly regard the honor of God, and the prosperity of his 
cause, rather than any man’s person, though he may have on ‘gay 
clothing.’ ; 

“In the town of Madisonville, the Methodist, Baptists and 
Hopkinsians, all had their separate houses for worship; and it 
was not an uncommon thing for all to be hymning the praises of 
their maker at once. This was as it should have been: let each and 
every denomination have their own house of worship, and attend to 
their own business; and then, to use a vulgar saying, let the longest 
pole take the persimmons. 

“Here, again, I was somewhat annoyed by those people called 
Baptists. It is true they were not very formidable; still, there 
were several preachers of this order (if it lawfulto call them preach- 
ers) who were continually haranguing the people on the subject of 
baptism, or rather of immersion. By day and by night, their cry 
was water! water! water! as if heaven were an island, situated some- 
where in the British sea, and we all had to swim to get there!—or 
as if the Saviour of mankind were a pennywinkle, and could only 
be found hanging to a sandstone, in the bottom of some water. 
course! And, one could as easily track a cat-fish through the Sucks 
in the Tennessee river; or side-line a whale through the Muscle 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 241 


Shoals in Alabama; or illumine the universe with the tail of light- 
ning-bug; or, hold a soaped pig by the tail, as convert these people 
from the error of their way. 

“It was on this circuit, too, that I had controversy with the 
agents of the American Sunday School Union, alluded to in the 
first section of this work. And it was here, that I published the 
pamphlet entitled an ‘Address to the Hiwasseans, on the Subject 
of Sabbath schools,’ &c.; and for the sin of this publication, it 
seems, I am not to get forgiveness, either in this life, or in the life 
tocome. I did greatly expose their machinations in this pamphlet. 
And this I must ever continue to do; for I view with jealousy the 
general movements of the Presbyterian church. I unfortunately 
suspect that there is more of political management,in all their 
affairs, than of concern for the souls of men. This may be my 
misfortune, but I am sincere in avowing it. Many of the common 
people, attached to this church, are unsuspecting and innocent; 
and ought to be pitied rather than blamed; for if their preachers 
were not to impose upon their gullibility, and thus designedly and 
knowingly lead them astray, they would not connive at their 
measures. As to the preachers themselves, most of them know 
they are in error, and they seem determined to continue in error. 
Clergymen are of all other men the most difficult to convert. One 
of the evangelists informs us, that it was not till multitudes of the 
common people believed, that a great company of the priests be- 
came obedient to the faith!. I hope those moderate persons who 
aim to steer between all extremes, will pardon me, for having said 
so much in relation to the Presbyterians, and for having said it so 
plainly too. God knows I have no desire to increase the bickerings 
and uncharitable feelings which now prevail among the different 
denominations. I mourn this evil in the church, but I see clearly 
it cannot be remedied. Though I never did nor never will advocate 
union: on the contrary I will ever oppose it. An attempt to effect 
such a thing is vanity, and try it who will, it will be found to give 
rise to vexation of spirit. 

“During this year, there was no little excitement throughout 
the Hiwassee district, on the all-absorbing subject of Free Masonry ; 
and this excitement has been kept up and increased, as the public 
prints will shew, till the present day; and in imitation of those 
zealous partizans at the north, they are even forming Anti-Masonic 
societies there. There is a lodge of no inconsiderable force in 
Athens, and another in Madisonville—with many of the members 
of both these lodges, I am personally and particularly acquainted. 
Many of them are honorable men and worthy citizens: others of 
them are scoundrels of the baser sort. ‘This, however, argues noth- 
ing against the system of Masonry; for there are good and bad men 
belonging to all, and even the best associations. I have never pub- 
lished or preached one sentence against the system of Masonry, for 
the very reason too, that I know nothing certainly about the system. 
I suppose, however, that Morgan’s exposition of it is a correct one; 


16 


242 ANDREW JACKSON AND HaRLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


and this opinion has been strengthened and confirmed, from the 
consideration that, from the days of Morgan down to the present, 
the system has been on the decline. Yet, I would give it as my 
opinion, that a minister had better say but little about Free Mason- 
ry in the pulpit, lest he should make false statements before he is 
aware of it. Iam not a mason myself—I never was one—I never 
intend to be one. For I consider that the religion taught by Jesus 
Christ and his Apostles, and which is contained in the New Testa- 
ment, will answer all the gracious ends proposed in the system of 
masonry. 

‘Thus I have thrown together, as they occurred, a few thoughts, 
which may suffice for the present, to show the state of mind, and 
things on the Tellico circuit, during this year. 


““May the good people in that section, live and die in the full 
enjoyment of that religion which is peaceable, permanent, and 
purifying; and whose reward is glory, honor, immortality, and eter- 
nal life. 

“1831 This year, our conference was held in Athens—Bishop 
Hedding presided. From this conference I was sent’to the Frank- 
lin circuit, in the western part of North Carolina. Here, again, I 
had another law-suit upon my hands, brfore I was aware of it, and 
that too against a host of the most bigotted and infurated Baptists 
I ever met with in any country. Yes, I will venture to affirm—to 
use no harsh language—that they are without a parallel—they 
stand unrivalled in the whole world of inquisitorial accusers! ‘The 
plaintiff in this suit, was however, a Baptist Preacher, who had allhis 
lifetime been engaged insome paltry peculation or other, and in perse- 
cuting and slandering Methodist preachers, doctrines, disciplines 
&c. In a word, a man less depraved by means of ministerial trick- 
ery, less hardened by ardent and insidious aspirations for money, 
cannot be found in the western country. If I were called upon to 
point out a preacher, lost to all sense of honor and shame, blind to all 
the beauties of religion, and every way hackneyed in crime, I would 
point to this man. But, for the satisfaction of the reader, I will, — 
by way of preliminary, give a brief account of this whole transaction 
First, this man, in addition to having been almost all his lifetime 
engaged in mercilessly fleecing the flock, and in litigations of one 
kind or another, has also been unremittingly aspiring after pre- 
ferment; and like some noxious character who lived in the days of 
our Saviour, he has always manifested a desire to ‘walk in long 
robes,’’ while he has even loved ‘greetings in the markets, and the 
highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts.’ In 
the next place, there has never been a Methodist traveling 
preacher in that country, for ten or fifteen years back, who this man 
has not directly or indirectly assailed, and attempted to injure. 
And as many as five highly respectable traveling preachers, have 
since certified that he had grossly slandered them, and their cer- 
tificates have been twice published to the world. But to proceed. 
Previous to my entrance into that country, my predecessor, viz: 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


From the bust by Hiram Powers now at the Hermitage near Nashville, and owned by the Ladies Hermitage 
Association of Tennessee who bought it from Col. Andrew Jackson for three thousand dollars. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 243 


the preacher who had traveled there the year before, had been 
assailed, at the instance of this man, in an infamous little publi- 
lication, written by a little old apostate whig —an official member 
of the Baptist church—the very but-cut of original sin. ‘To this 
publication, this circuit preacher felt himself bound to reply, and 
accordingly did so. Some two months after this, the old Baptist 
priest replied in a pamphlet of some size, and in this publication 
slandered a number of Methodist preachers, together with the 
doctrines, government, and general policy of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. In the midst of this state of things, and upon the 
very heels of this controversy, as it were, I was appointed to this 
circuit, and the very next day after my arrival om the circuit 
before I had even seen this preacher, he made a violent attack 
upon my moral character, by circulating a most shameful false, 
and injurious report. After a few weeks had passed away, I was 
advised to clear up the matter. I accordingly addressed the parson 
a note, asking him if he had circulated so and so, and if he had, 
to be so good as to give me his authority for so doing. Contrary 
to my expectation, he wrote me quite an evasive answer. I 
addressed him again. He then united with a little Hopkinsian 
physician, and they replied to me jointly, at the same time laying 
the whole matter on an infamous negro, giving him as the author 
of the report!!! Now, in my last communication to this clergy- 
man, I scored him so deeply that it, together with the report in 
the country, that I had used him up, led him to indict me before 
the grand jury, for a libel—And it is worthy of remark, that this 
presentment was not made till in October, just a week before the 
circuit for conference. And, it is also worthy of remark, that this 
minister, in order to become a witness against me, artfully intro- 
duced one of the members of his church, as the prosecutor in the 
case. Nor would the grand jury have found a true bill against 
me at all, but for the fact, that this miserable old man, before 
them declared upon oath, that he had never circulated a report 
concerning me, which should have come from a negro, or provoked 
me in any way. ‘This fact, with many other important items re- 
lating to this lawsuit, I have long since substantially confirmed by 
a host of respectable certificates, and published the same to the 
world, and as many as two different pamphlets. This unfortunate 
man, thought that this falsehood was deposed in secret, and that 
the jurors dared not divulge it, and that no ear had heard it. He 
forgot that the eye of an omniscient God was upon him; and he 
little thought that the dark deeds of that hour, would ever be pro- 
claimed to the world, through the medium of the press! Surely 
nothing short of an emetic from hell, could have forced him to 
vomit so base a falsehood in the presence of Almighty God, and 
twelve honest men! I should not write this, but for the reckless, 
remorseless, and unrelenting manner in which this depraved set 
attacked, pursued, and persecuted me. For ministers of the 
gospel, and other professors of religion, who serve but one 


244 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


master, manifesting their faith by their good works, I have 
a respect bordering on veneration; but for those libellers of the 


religion they profess, who, in the true spirit of him they serve, go 


about singing and praying, preaching, lying, slandering, defraud- 
ing, and false swearing, I feel inexpressible contempt. Nor shall 
their over-rated talents or mock-dignity; or yet, their menaces of 
violence, screen them from the rebuke they have merited. As 
nothing more was done in this ‘‘suit at law,” during this year, I 
will dismiss it for the present, and resume the subject again in the 
sequal 

“Thus it will be seen, that my labors on this circuit, were com- 
menced, under auspices very unfavorable. I had expected, on en- 
tering into the coves and mountains of this country, to have found 
an atmosphere entirely freed from the baneful influence of Calvin- 
ism, but alas! the hydra headed monster had reached the country 
before I did. Here it was, that I became more and more impressed 
with the conviction, that this doctrine is death to religion, and the 
prolific mother of human miseries. A whole encyclopedia of wit, 
argument, and abuse, could not more than do the subject justice. 

“Here, too, in a good degree, I witnessed the dreadful effects 
of drunkenness upon religious society. I here expelled several of 
our members for this crime. As it respects the Baptists, custom 
seems to have licensed them to drink when they pleased; in so much 
that it was no uncommon thing to see them, with impunity, stag- 
gering about, having their faces carbuneled with brandy! In vain 
may a minister leave his house and home, and encounter the incle- 
ment skies to build up believers, and administer relief to dying 
sinners, while they continue to pour fermenting liquors down their 
throats. And as already intimated, I was here more deeply con- 
vinced than ever, of the propriety of entering a solmn protest 
against so fearful an enormity, particularly as it threatens to over- 
run our country, and lay waste our churches. But, the reader will 
not regard me as saying, that the citizens of this section of the 
country were all drunkards, or Calvinistic Baptists. The cause of 
Methodism was quite popular there; and the cause of temperance 
was daily gaining ground. There are some as worthy and honor- 
able members of the Methodist church there, as I ever met with in 
any country. And I shall have a great many warm-hearted friends 
there, and I shall long carry with me the remembrance of the many 
kind favors, wishes, and feelings, I have received from them.—I 
trust I have not been and may not be ungrateful for them. 

“During this year, I performed as many as three tours through 
what are called the Taxaway mountains, crossing the Blue Ridge, 
and wandering along among the head branches of the southern 
water courses, on a sort of a missionary excursion. Agriculture 
and the mechanic arts, were not in as high a state of cultivation 
there, as I supposed them to be in the States of Maryland and 
Pennsylvania; while there existed at least a shade of difference be- 


tween the inhabitants of those mountains, and the citizens of Phila- 


delphia, so far as their manners and customs were concerned. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 245 


“Having been elected a delegate to the general conference, held 

in Philadelphia, in May, 1832, I set out from my circuit for the city, 
‘the last of March, via Abingdon, Fincastle, Staunton, Fredricks- 
burg, Washington and Baltimore. Upon my arrival in Abingdon, 
I was insulted and tongue-lashed by a people called Protestant 
Methodists, who were there employed in reforming from Episcopal 
Popery, for having dared to express my views of their system! 
Here I found a parson C. of this order, whose flaming zeal in main- 
taining the doctrines of ‘reform,’ led him to forge thunderbolts, 
and to pour out anathemas against despotism! This man was 
evidently actuated by a bad spirit, or a sordid interest, or a barbar- 
ous disposition to revenge, which animates most of the radicals as 
they are sometimes called, and produces all their pretended love of 
freedom. This town, once so harmonious, was now divided in re- 
ligious opinion. And, as an emblem of the division, two spires 
now pointed up to heaven in Abingdon; and two men, who styled 
themselves Methodists and ministers of Christ, preached to distinct 
congregations, and as all allow, resorted to measures widely different 
in their tendency, in order to carry their points. But here, as in 
most other places, where these sticklers for reform have caused a 
secession from the mother church, the same has been found in 

reality, to have been an accession to it. 

“At Evensham, some fifty miles beyond Abingdon, I was again 
charged on by the postmaster of that place, a sort of head man in 
the ranks of Protestant Methodism, who, as I was told after leay- 
ing there, published me in the Wythe paper. But poor man! he 
has since been tucked up for robbing the mail, and that too of no 
small amount of money. Since that time, the latest advices from 
that country say, that his zeal in the cause of religion has greatly 
abated. 

“On my way to Philadelphia, I spent a week in the city of 
Washington, in visiting the different parts of the city, and in listen- 
ing to the debates in Congress. While in Washington, in company 
with some ten or a dozen clergymen, I visited the President’s house, 
also, and was honored by an introduction to Gen. Jackson. He 
had just recovered from a slight state of indisposition. He sat 
with Mr. Livingstone, the then secretary of state, examining some 
papers, when we entered, and though paler than usual, I was 
struck with the fidelity of the common portraits I have seen of him. 
Alexander’s, I think, however, is the best by far, and his reflection 
in the mirror is not more like him. He rose with a dignified courtsy 
to receive us, and conversed freely and agréeably; till, unfortunately 
he bounced on the missionaries, who had crossed his views and 
feelings, in opposing the measures of Georgia and the general 
government. His whole appearance is imposing and in the highest 
degree gentlemanly and prepossessing. He is a very fine looking 
old man, though I left him with an unfavorable opinion of him. 
And though I dislike and disapprove of his administration, yet, I 
am free to confess, that if his face is an index of his character, he 
is an upright, fearless man. But I have long since learned that it 
will not do to take men by their looks. 


246 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Tam no politician, but so far as I am capable of understanding 
what I read, I am a Jeffersonian Republican. 

“From here I proceeded to Baltimore, where, in company with 
a number of the preachers, I remained for several days. While 
here, I preached to the convicts in the penitentiary, at the request 
of the preacher in charge of the station. And while there, it 
occured to me, that the Hopkinsians of Tennessee, had previously 
predicted that I would end my days in some such place, and that 
they would no doubt be somewhat gratified to hear that I was in 
the state prison of Maryland; and I accordingly sat down and 
communicated the information to a friend in Athens, who, as I 
was afterwards told, apprised them of the fact, without letting 
them know the circumstances under which I had gone there. 
Some of them rejoiced, and others mourned lest the report should 
not be true. While here, the keeper of the prison related to me an 
anecdote, which I cannot deny myself the pleasure of publishing. 
It was this: Some time before that, two self-important young 
Presbyterian ministers, during the sitting of the presbytery in that 
city, visited the penitentiary; and while they were walking about 
viewing the prisoners at work, one of them said to the other, ‘I 
suspect that if the truth were known, the most of these unfortunate 
creatures came here out of the Methodist church.’ 

“The keeper having heard this, and knowing who they were, 
determined to score them, if a suitable opportunity presented itself. 
Well, it was not long until one of them asked him if any of the con- 
victs had ever been members of any church, &c. He answered 
them in the affirmative. ‘What church,’ enquired the priest, 
‘were they members of?’ . Said the keeper, ‘the most of them came 
here out of the Presbyterian church!!!’ The result was, the young 
clergyman made no further enquiries on the subject. 

“From Baltimore, I proceeded to Philadelphia, on board of a 
steam-boat, accompanied by some twenty-five or thirty Meth- 
odist preachers, delegates to the general conference. Here, I 
remained all the month of May. While in this city, I attended the 
anniversary of the American Sunday School Union. To a super- 
ficial observer, this would have been an interesting meeting; but 
I saw too much management to please me. 

“While the Methodist general conference was sitting, the 
Presbyterian general assembly was in session likewise. I was 
present in the assembly, when they had the great doctrinal ques- 
tion on the carpet—I mean the new school and the old school 
divinity, or as some of them termed it, ‘heresy’ and ‘orthodoxy.’ 
The debate grew out of an appeal from the decision of a synod, to 
the general assembly, on the part of some new school men, for a 
division of the Philadelphia Presbytery. On this question a 
violent personal debate arose, which would, for intemperance of 
language and wholesale abuse of private character, absolutely 
disgrace the lowest poster house, or ale cellar, in the lowest place 
in the lowest town or city in the lowest country in the world. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 247 


“During the sitting of this assembly, and also of our conference, 
in the midst too of the debates of the former, I was invited to dine 
at the house of Alexander Cook, Esq., in company with venerable 
Bishop Roberts, Ezekiel Cooper, John P. Durbin, Francis A. 
Owen and others, and before the bell rang for dinner, while we were 
sitting together in the parlor with several other persons, one of the 
company lifted a Presbyterian paper, just published, and read a 
brief sketch of the proceedings of the assembly, written by a mem- 
ber of that body, in which he stated that great peace and harmony 
prevailed among them, and that they had indubitable evidence 
that the Lord was with them! 

“Bishop Roberts then enquired of me to know, smiling at the 
same time, how I would reconcile that statement with the account 
myself and others had given of their debates. I replied, that I 
supposed the writer did not use the terms peace and harmony, 
in their most common acceptations, and that on this ground there 
was no discrepancy in our statements; and that as to the Lord 
being present, the writer could prove by me, that John Lord, 
one of our delegation from New England, a very tall fine looking 
man too, was present and heard their debates, and that it was 
possible the writer alluded to him! But said I, if he meant to say 
that the good Lord of Heaven and earth was with them, he was 
certainly mistaken. 

“Now, that an omnipresent God was there, in the sense in 
which he is in every part of creation, no man who believes the 
scriptures will doubt; but that the almighty was there to sanction 
and approve of their jarring affections, malevolent wishes, broils 
and contentions, discordant voices, hard names, and confusion, is 
impossible. I would say that a being of revengeful and depraved 
passions, slightly varnished over with hypocrisy, dissimulation, and 
the various forms of politeness which prevail in parliamentary 
usages and debates, presided over the assembly; and the spirit 
which evidently stimulated and excited them to action, and the 
horrible and extensive effects produced by their infiammatory 
debates, bear me out in this supposition. 

“They called other ‘heretics,’ and gave other the ‘lie; and 
indeed, one of the members of the assembly called Dr. Ely an 
‘unregenerate heretic!’ And in vain the moderator attempted to 
reconcile them. During the heat of their debate, the moral at- 
mosphere surrounding the place, became so tainted, that it was 
fatal to dignity, respectability and virtue to breathe it. And, they 
must alter their manner of conducting their controversies in the 
general assembly, if they would turn our ‘moral wilderness’ into a 
paradise of national, social, and domestic happiness. In one word, 
there have never been just such signs in the Presbyterian zodiac, 
since the stamp act of 1765, and the night when Samuel Adams, 
and John Hancock, caused the tea to be thrown overboard in the 
harbor of Boston! I confess, for one, that I entertained a hope, 
that the system would soon be discomfitted, slain and buried, till 
the general judgment at least, and then finally, completely, and 
irretrievably annihilated! 


248 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘‘1832-This year, our conference held its annual session in 
Evensham, in western Virginia. Bishop Emory presided. At 
this conference, I was appointed to the Tugalow circuit, lying most- 
ly in the district of Pickens, South Carolina. On this circuit, I 
was enabled to effect but very little in a moral point of view, it 
being over-run with Baptists. Though I had no controversy with 
the Baptists this year, I had the pleasure of preaching with their 
greatest man Mr. , more than once. 

“Tf by the term ‘great preacher,’ be understood the fermen- 
tations of a roving brain, paradox united to a depraved taste, un- 
ceasing apostophes, exclamations, obscure hyperboles —in a word, 
if a style inflated with extravagant metaphors, indicates greatness 
in a preacher, then indeed was this a mighty man! And if sterile 
ideas clothed with a redundancy of improper words, accumulated 
substantives, crowded epithets, rapid contradictions, repetitions 
re-echoed, abundance of synonymous words, and unceasing con 
trasts, constitute true eloquence, then does this man stand un- 
rivalled as an orator! 

“This was a very cold winter; and the water courses kept up 
till late in the spring. I swam the Tugalow river four times during 
this winter, besides the large creeks, &c. More than once, after 
swimming these water courses, I preached in open meeting houses, 
with my clothes froze on me! At one time, in swimming the river, 
when it was very full, I was driven below the ford by the strength 
of the current, and had like to have never reached the land again. 
Indeed I was in a squirrel’s jump of the good world! 


“Here I learned that nullification is emphatically death to 
religion. ‘The churches were all enveloped in the smoke of faction. 
‘The Presbyterian and Baptist clergy, in this country, volunteered 
to support the ordinance, and preached expressly on nullification, 
declaring that it was both scriptural and right! Having received 
a new commission from heaven, or elsewhere, to ‘Go into all the 
world and preach nullification to every creature;’ like the fol- 
lowers of Mahomet, and not like the disciples of Jesus, whose duty 
it is to preach peace and good will to mankind, they carried the 
alcoran of nullification in one hand, and the sword in the other, 
saying to the people, ‘choose ye this day whom ye will serve.’ ‘If 
nullification be God serve it, and if submission to the law of the 
land be God, then follow it.’ A Baptist minister in Greeneville 
district, just above where I traveled, made the discovery, that 
nullification was the ‘quintescence of religion,’ and that ‘Jesus 
Christ himself was a nullifier! Different Presbyterian ministers 
preached sermons on the subject, and some of them had their 
discourses published in pamphlet form, and. circulated among the 
people, at large. In some Baptist congregations where the union 
party was the strongest, motions were submitted to exclude nulli- 
fiers from the pale of the church. The Methodist preachers, with 
few exceptions, were not guilty of such improprieties. As to 
Calvinistic ministers, they have both precept and example. in their 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 249 


churches, for nullification. John Calvin, in the cases of Servetus 
and Castellio, nullified that law of God which says, ‘Thou shalt 
Gon fll.’ 

“The nullifiers throughout the country, distinguished them- 
selves by wearing a cockade on their hats, made of blue ribbon. 
Even the boys, not free from the apron strings of their mothers, 
had them displayed in bold relief, and in the true style of chivalry. 
Some of the union party, however, by way of contempt, fastened 
the cockade on the necks of their dogs. And I heard much said of 
a certain little bobtail fiste, in one of the country towns, having the 
cockade upon the tip end of his tail, trotting about the streets, and 
thus carrying nullification ‘sky-high!’ Surely, Don Quixotte 
himself would have charged a dozen wind mills, and broken a hun- 
dred lances, and fought a kingdom of giants for such a badge! 

“A vast number of the common people, or peasantry, left the 
state; and if many of those who held land and other property, could 
have disposed of it, on any thing like reasonable terms, they would 
have fled from the ‘peaceful remedy’ as fast and as thick as did 
the darts in the Trojan war. 

“But as it regards this thing called nullification, I find scripture 
both for and against it. When the Babylonian king passed a law 
not warranted by the law of God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego, nullified it at the hazard of their lives, and were by the power 
of God successful. Darius, afterwards king of the Medes and 
Persians, trying a similar project, had his laws nullified at the per- 
il of his life—he succeeded, and his enemies were destroyed, and 
the power and majesty of God in both instances was spread over 
the immense realms of those potentates. 

“But there are other cases, in which nullification was attended 
with the worst of consequences. In the garden of Eden, our first 
parents were induced by the devil, in the form of the serpent, to 
nullify the law of God and taste the forbidden fruit; and believing 
it to be a ‘peaceful remedy,’ they made the ‘experiment.’ Cain, 
in the case of his brother Abel, nullified the law of God, for which 
he received a black mark in his forehead! A nation of Jews who 
perished in the siege at Jerusalem, were all nullifiers. So were 
the wretched inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorah. And the Ante- 
deluvians, for their South Carolina politics, were all baptized by 
immersion. last of all, the king of Egypt, in trying to carry his 
ORDINANCE into effect, got drowned in the Red Sea. And 
had the South Carolina nullifiers gone a little further with their 
scheme, old Hickory would have drowned them in the port of 
Charleston! 

“For my own part, I think it best to obey the injunction of St. 
Paul, who says, ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, 
for there is no power but of God. ‘The powers that be are or- 
dained of God, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth 
the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to them- 
selves damnation.’ 


250 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“During this year, I visited the Telulee Falls, in Habersham 
county, Georgia. The revolutions on our earth, by which its 
original appearance has been so repeatedly changed, together -with 
the manner in which nature has embellished the temporary res- 
idence of man, have, at all times, commanded the attention, and 
excited the astonishment of the learned. ‘These traces of des- 
olation have always acted on the human mind; and the traditions 
of deluges, preserved among almost every people, are derived 
from the different phenomena, and the great variety of marine 
productions scattered over the earth. But, we can never learn 
much on a subject so extensive, so very remote, and so wonderful. 
I have been in different states in the Union, and have looked with 
peculiar delight upon the order, harmony, and beauty of the works 
of creation in each; but never have I witnesses a scene which 
struck my mind with such profound awe, and so completely filled 
me with admiration of the infinite skill of the great Architect of 
nature. These falls are situated twelve miles from Clarksville, 
the county seat of Habersham, on the Telulee river, a beautiful 
stream indeed, which meanders through the hills, dales, valleys and 
piney woods, till it loses itself in the great Savannah. ‘These falls, 
for several years past, have been a place of great resort, especially 
with the lowlanders, who, for their health, spend the summer in 
this ‘hill country.’ And I have to regret, that I do not possess a 
more lively and acute genius, that I might give a more graphic 
and interesting description of them. ‘The scene, is said in point of 
grandeur, to be superior to that at Niagara, by some who have 
visited both. But as I have never seen the falls of Niagara, I will 
not vouch for the truth of this statement. I will say however, 
that it is difficult to form even a tolerable idea of this stupendous 
cataract without visiting and examing it. And even then it is not 
easy to bring the imagination to embrace the magnitude of the 
scene. For some distance above rolls the gentle stream, almost 
without wave or ripple to disturb the tranquility of its bosom, till, 
all of a sudden, sweeping along to the dreadful precipice, leaping 
from rock to rock, gathering all its energies, it plunges into the 
awful abyss below. 

“Where the water falls, and between the bluffs on either side, 
there is such an astonishing chasm, as, viewed from above, strikes 
the beholder with terror! Down this chasm the water rushes with 
surprising velocity, after its first and most tremendous pitch, which 
is a fall of some considerable distance, though not perpendicular. 
The pitch of the whole body of water produces a tremendous 
sound which may be heard at some distance. The dashing of the 
water also produces a mist which rises to a great height. And 
some small distance below, the water, the waves, and the foam, 
have quite a great appearance indeed. The eye of an obser- 
vant mind must rest, indeed, with peculiar delight on the 
structure of these falls, viewing them as a matchless display 
of Almighty power. ‘To be in sight of these falls, at this 
season of the year, upon an adjacent eminence, surrounded by an 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 251 


extensive field, handsomely interspersed with timber; where one 
can inhale the balmy zephyrs, charmed with the splendor of the sun, 
and the variegated coloring spread over the face of the country, 
and then, in the midst of this grandeur, let the rich harmony of a 
choir of feathered songsters come pealing on the ear, and certainly 
no heart can be so dead to feeling, as to resist the charms. 

“I am told by those who visit them a¥idst wintry storms, 
clouds, rain and fog, when a dense, hazy atmosphere, surcharged 
with watery exhalations, hangs all around, that the scene is aw- 
fully grand. 

“Tf the traveller, in crossing the mountains to or from the 
south, will take the trouble to call in and see these falls, he may see 
the works of nature on a scale of magnitude and grandeur which 
it will be highly gratifying to behold and investigate, and which 
will raise to the highest pitch his conceptions of the magnificence 
and glory of him, whose works are very truly ‘great and marvelous!’ 
He will feel within him a burning desire to reach that eternal world 
of joy, where the redeemed shall acquire a more minute and com- 
prehensive view of the attributes of the diety and of the connec- 
tions, relations, and dependencies, of the vast physical and moral 
system over which his government extends. 

“Decision of the Law-Suit. Having given security, at the time 
I was first presented, for my appearance at the ensuing superior 
court, I returned from the south, to North Carolinia in February, 
in this year, and took out subpoenas for the witnesses by whom I 
intended to make good the charges alleged in the bill of indict- 
ment. Well, I came on to court; and on Monday, the first day of 
court, my counsel demanded a trial, and continued to do so every 
day, till the last evening of court, when, just at night, it was grant 
ed. The reason why a trial could not be had sooner, was, that the 
bill which had been drawn up at the former court, and which I 
was then prepared to answer, was found to be defective, or such 
an one as I would blow up; and hence, a new bill was drawn up, 
and a new presentment made to the jury, and a new plan of ar- 
rangements adopted. And what is more strange than all, the 
state (for this was a state case) nullified this bill, and the state 
forced me to pay the cost of the same, though I was ready for 
trial! The like was never heard of before! 


“In this last bill of indictment, there were three specifications, 

of which the following was considered the most important: 
“But sir, I am constrained to believe, that you are so destitute of 
feeling, so blind to the beauties of religion, so hacknied in crime, 
and so lost to all sense of honor and shame, that nothwithstand- 
ing your faculties still enable you to continue your sordid pur- 
suits, they will not permit you to feel any remorse, or acknowledge 
your errors.’ To support this charge, I had various respectable 
witnesses present to prove the man a liar, a slanderer, and a de- 
frauder; and after doing so, I intended to infer, according to scrip- 
ture and reason, that he was what I had represented him to be. 


252 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


I knew very well, that no man in his sober senses, would swear 
positively, that he was dead in sins and trespasses, and lost to all 
‘ sense of honor and shame; but I simply supposed that upon making 
out this proof, the conclusion would be inevitable. And indeed, 
I afterwards procured the certificates of nineteen respectable men 
eight of whom were ministers of the gospel, proving him to be 
this kind of a man, and published them to the world, as before 
stated. 

“Upon failing to get witnesses to swear to the man’s heart, my 
counsel submitted the case without any pleading, and I was fined 
five- Dollars. 

“But it is worthy of notice, that this man, in going to law, in- 
stead of bringing an action of slander, indicted me for libel. His 
motive for acting this, was, he had been told that in action for 
slander, the truth of the words spoken, or written, affords a com- 
plete justification, which is seldom the case in an indictment for 
libel. Besides, an action of slander would have enabled me as 
defendant, to defend my own character, and attack his more suc- 
cessfully, than the rigid rules which govern an indictment for libel 
would allow of. For, in this state, the British doctrine of libelling 
is incorporated in the constitution; and the laws enacted on the 
subject in Old England, were, for the most part, intended for the 
protection of the king, and when explained amount to this—the 
greater the truth, the greater the libel. So that, had the once 
intended scheme of the parliament of Great Britain, to pass a bill, 
which denied to persons accused on a criminal account the privilege 
of defending themselves by the help of counsel, been here carried - 
out and acted upon, I could have sustained no additional injury by 
it. For, under the regulations which governed this indictment, the 
legal knowledge of a Blackstone, or a Mansfield, combined with 
the eloquence of Lord Bolingbroke and Charles Fox, would have 
been of no service to me. Now, under the laws which govern an 
indictment for a libel, David and Solomon, were they on earth, 
might be charged and convicted for having libelled the whole 
human race. David has said, ‘all men are liars,’ and Solomon 
has said, ‘there are none good.’ Now deprive the former of the 
testimony of an inspired prophet, who, speaking of the human 
family, as soon as they are born, says, ‘they go astray speaking 
lies,’ and he could not sustain the charge. Well, deprive the 
latter of the scripture proofs of general depravity, and he would 
make a complete failure likewise. And here I will remark, for 
your information reader, that if you are ever disposed to select ~ 
a legal remedy in a case of this kind, and your general character 
is bad, indict for a libel, and not for slander; for, if you do, your 
opponent will be allowed to investigate your character from your 
youth up. And, if you should ever conclude to sue for your char- 
acter, and it is not better than that of this man, sue for a new one, 
and not for the one you have! 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 253 


“But, when a man is indicted for a libel, and is found guilty and 
taxed with the cost, the idea goes out among the ignorant and un- 
informed, that he signed a libel—an instrument of writing in which 
he acknowledges himself to be a liar, &. And this has been said 
of me, both in Carolina and Tennessee, by the ignorant and mal- 
icious ministers and members of the Baptist church. But it is 
all as false, as its numerous authors are infamous. Nor am I 
anxious for those who are not accustomed to think for themselves, 
or the corrupt, or those who are under the influence of trained 
and active intriguers, to entertain any other view of the subject. 
The majesty of truth will command the reverence of the candid— 
those who refuse to comply with its stern demands, can peaceably 
enjoy their own opinions. 

“Were I disposed to do so, I might give the public a dissertation 
on the posse comitatus, equally as ponderous, as that with which 
Lord North furnished the British House of Commons 

“TI will, however, only say, that there has never been sick a 
trial, since the trial of William Penn, before the court of Old Bailey, 
in England, for preaching to the Quakers in the streets of London; 
and, for his controversy with the Baptists and Catholics. Perhaps, 
I might except the trial of John Wesley at Savannah, in 1737; 
and, more recently, the trial of Lorenzo Dow, in Charleston. Dow 
was indicted for a libel; and although he plead the truth of the 
allegations in justification, and rested his defense solely upon this 
plea, he was nevertheless, convicted, and the sentence of the law 
was that of a fine and imprisonment! 

“A few remarks in relation to the cost of this suit, and I have 
done for the present. Having lost the suit, as a matter of course, 
it fellto my lot to pay the cost. The legal cost of the suit, amount- 
ed to quite a trifle, there being only two witnesses on the part of 
the prosecution, and but few of these whom I had subpoenaed, who 
proved their attendance. But, on my return to that country, I 
learned that a third person, not known in the suit, had summoned 
a host of old Baptist witnesses, who, after court had adjourned, 
and I had paid most of the legal cost and left there, went forward 
and proved their attendance! These witnesses were sum- 
moned for no other purpose under the sun but to create 
cost; and as evidence of this, they were never called into 
court, nor was it known to me that they were there as witnesses! ! 
Well, on Sabbath, in the month of June, about five miles from the 
court house, while I was at church, in company with my presiding 
elder, William Patton, and the circuit preacher, Stephen W. Earn- 
est, a corrupt and inexperienced deputy sheriff, seized upon me 
for this illegal cost! 

“To satisfy the demands of this extra-judicial claim, on the 
next morning, I gave the officer an elegant dun mare, saddle, bridle, 
saddle-bags, and umbrella, all of which he disposed of in short 
order. 


254 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“How true the remark of an eminent writer; ‘he that opposeth 
hell, may expect hell’s rage.’ Surely their conduct savors more 
of that of an Algerine banditti, than of a body of civilized men— 
not to say christians. And surely, in traversing the vast con- 
tinent of America, in wandering over the barren plains of inhos- 
pitable Denmark, through honest Sweden, and frozen Lapland, 
rude and churlish Finland,.unprincipled Russia, and the wide 
spread regions of the wandering Tartars, I shall never have to 
encounter a more savage and unprincipled set! With but few 
exceptions, the whole pack are steeped to the very chin in cor- 
ruption, living upon its wages, and pandering to its purposes. 
They are shrouded in the sack-cloth and ashes of shame and dis- 
grace, and enclosed in vaults full of buried venality. Like the 
fabled apples on the shore of the Dead Sea, they are fair without, 
but ashes within. They are daily accustomed to low and dirty 
contemplations, and familiarized by habit to the most filthy and 
mistaken views of truth. 

“Their abominable impurites—their enormous injustice—their 
profanation of holy things—their contempt of the Supreme 
Being—their rancor and animosity—their hypocritical artifices— 
their dark designs and insidious calumnies, if unrepented for, 
will one day seize upon them, and burn them with the most in- 
expressible anguish. 


“But public opinion has long since sealed the fate of these 
miserable offenders, and they have well nigh perished amidst the 
universal execrations of an honest community; while the winds 
of heaven have wafted the dying shrieks of their flimsy characters, 
from the shores of time to the distant vaults of merited oblivion! 
Still, I would pray Omnipotence, in the dying language of Stephen, 
who, when a similar set were mangling his body with stones, said, 
‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’ But as sure as that moral 
justice is not a fiction, when the day of retribution shall come, and 
the unclouded light of eternity dawns upon the disordered chaos 
of all human concerns, it will be seen that, throughout, this was a 
shameful transaction, on the part of these my inquisitorial accusers. 
For, never before, perhaps, has a case occurred within the compass 
of the whole civilized world, in which the laws intended for the 
protection of personal rights, have been so openly and basely 
set at defiance, and have proved, in practice, so entirely inad- 
equate to their object. The judge, many of whose relations are 
Baptists, before and after he came to court, declared he would 
put it to me, or words to this amount. And the attorney-general, 
before the court, represented me as a foreigner, having come into 
the country, and made the attack upon the plaintiff! This is 
carrying out the doctrine of state rights much further, than even 
contended for by South Carolina; for if a member of the Hartford 
convention, were to settle within her limits, she would allow him 
all the privileges of a bona fide juredivino citizen. This is indeed 
state restrictions, instead of state rights. In matters of contro- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 255 


versy in Tennessee, this primogeniture citizenship is not taken into 
the account. The laws of Draco, were the very quintescence of 
justice and mercy, if compared with this inexplicable system of 
judicial ethics! 

“The most infamous culprit is entitled to the benefit of a fair 
and impartial trial; and no individual, however talented or high in 
office, should be allowed to assume to himself the office of Judge, 
jury and executioner, all at the same time. 

“The following extract from Volney’s Ruins; or Meditation on 
the Revolutions,’ upon the ‘Universal basis of all Right and all 
Law, contains an excellent view of the origin of all justice and of 
right: 

“Whatever be the active power, the moving cause that governs 
the universe, since it has been given to all men the same sensations, 
and the same wants, it has thereby declared that it has given to 
all the same right to the use of its treasures, and that all men are 
equal in the order of nature. Secondly, since this power has given - 
to each man the necessary means of preserving his own existence, 
it is evident that it has constituted them all independent one of 
another—that it has created them free — that no man is subject 
another—that each is absolute proprietor of his own person. 
Equality and Liberty are therefore two essential attributes of 
man.’ 

“Tn conclusion, all who are not too deeply rooted and grounded 
in error, to be convinced by reason and argument, will be perfectly 
satisfied with this account of this part of my life. The people of 
Carolina, who are well acquainted with the parties and circum- 
stances under consideration, are the best judges, and with them 
rests the verdict, which will be awarded for or against the proper 
person. For my own part, I do not feel daunted in the least de- 
gree, in view of their decision; nor have I at all been annoyed 
because of the vile and scurrilous abuse of party, and of sectarian 
venom which have been poured upon me. And I shall go on in 
the bold, but even tenor of my way, and perform the duties I owe 
to God, to my conscience, and to the church of which I have the 
honor to be both a member and a minister. I have but little 
ambition to gratify, no private ends to answer, and no desire but 
the good of the whole human family; and while public and private 
scandal, secret malice, and all the baser passions of the human 
heart are brought to bear against me, I shall stand firm and steady, 
and endeavor by the assistance of God, to walk worthy of the 
vocation to which it has pleased God and the church to call me. 
As an individual, my reputation is untarnished; and all the worst 
occurrences of my life, are herewith submitted to the world. 


“The great body, both of the membership and ministry, in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, for many miles round, know me— 
and they know me well; and those who live at a distance, are well 
enough acquainted with Methodism to know, that no man of a 
suspicious character would be continued in the travelling con- 


256 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


nection, or sent by an Annual Conference, to labor on any circuit, 
station or district. And the Journals of the Holston Annual 

Conference will shew, that a charge of immorality has never been 

brought against me and sustained, since I have been a member of 

said Conference. 

“Indeed ministerial character, like female virtue, should chal- 
lenge scrutiny; and with the fearlessness of conscious uprightness 
and purity, recoil not at the severest and most trying ordeal. 

‘1833—This year our Conference met at Kingsport, in the month 
of November. Bishop Roberts attended, but owing to bad health, 
did not preside more than a part of twq days. Our esteemed 
brother, Thomas Wilkerson, by the appointment of the Bishop, 
presided the remainder of the session. At this conference, I was 
appointed to travel alone on the Dandridge circuit, a three weeks 
circuit, lying in the fork, between the Holston and French Broad 
rivers. 

“In the commencement of this year, we had some encourage- 
ment. Our first quarterly meeting was very interesting; but 
considerations of a highly important character prevented the pro- 
gress of the work in the latter part of the year. On this circuit, 
as on several other circuits, I had to expel some malcontents from 
the pale of our communion. 

“Some of these miscreants immediately set about the work ot 
raising a party, and of destroying the societies of which they had 
been members; but fortunately for the cause of Methodism, they 
could get but few disciples to aid them in this fiend-like work. 
And although the few followers they did muster up, made it their 
business to cry daily, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians!’—‘un- 
fairness of trial’—‘snap judgment,’ &c. They were unable to 
effect anything save their own disgrace. And although they 
were untiring in their efforts, yet it should seem to me, that a con- 
scious inability to defend a cause so weak, and to sustain a position 
so notoriously at variance with everything like truth, should have 
calmed them down to silence. Poor unfortunate creatures! They 
did not even act understandingly, in reference to their own interest. 
Every struggle they made to involve other and extricate them- 
selves, only made their condition worse. By this time, I pre- 
sume, they are prepared to adopt the sentiment, that man’s whole 
life is but school hours; this world a great university; and the 
vicissitudes of the time his preceptor! 

‘‘The Meteoric Phenomenon Accounted For!— 

“Between five and six o’clock on Wednesday morning, Nov. 
13, 1833, it will long be recollected by thousands, that one of the 
most beautiful phenomena ever seen by the eye of man, appeared in 
the heavens. This extraordinary phenomena, consisted of a great 
number of what are.vulgarly called shooting stars, which, from . 
common centres, appeared to be shooting in every direction, ex- 
cept upwards, radiating the whole heavens, by leaving a streak of 
mild light on the unsullied blue. This occurred during my first 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 257 


round on the Dandridge circuit. And while many were wrapped 
in wonder and delight, in contemplating the mild sublimity and 
glory of the millions of lines of light which were gradually appearing 
and disappearing in succession, during the continuance of this 
most beautiful of all celestial phenomena, others were seriously 
alarmed. Some predicted that the end of all things was just at 
hand; or that the prophetic period had arrived, ‘in the which the 
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, —and when ‘the earth also and the works 
that are therein shall be burned up!’ And some thought that, in 
the language of the General Epistle of Jude, they were ‘wandering 
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever!’ 
Others thought the meteors ominous of war; and some of one thing 
and some of another. While, to cap the climax, some knowing 
ones among the Baptists, who, I suppose, were disposed to account 
for this prodigy in nature, solely on philosophic principles, said it 
was a sign of the downfall of the Methodists! ! ! 

“But, soon after this occurrence, a company of females met 
at a quilting, in the bounds of a circuit [| onc2 traveled, 
and while they were wondering, and guessing, and prophesy- 
ing, &c., with regard to the cause of this wonder of wonders, 
a Hopkinsian lady remarked, ‘the whole matter has been occasioned 
by the death of Brownlow! ‘What,’ exclaimed another, ‘is it 
possible that Brownlow is dead!’ ‘Yes,’ replied this sister Phebe 
of Cenchrea, ‘he has been dead several weeks, and by tight squeez- 
ing he made out to go to heaven; but he had been there no time 
scarcely until he raised a fuss, and was running about all over the 
good world taking certificates to clear himself; and it took such 
hard work to get him out of heaven, that it set the stars to falling!’ 

“This, after my acknowledged and known dexterity in writing 
pamphlets, and in using up Hopkinsian missionaries and Sunday 
school agents, by certificates, I frankly confess, had liked to have 
plagued me. May this good hearted humorous sister, when she 
gets to heaven, in obedience to the apostle’s injunction, bridle that 
unruly member, the tongue, and not meet with a similar defeat, 
is, I believe, about all the harm I wish her. And in the mean time, 
should I be so fortunate as to get to heaven again, the next time I 
die, I will try and be more on my guard. 

“QUERY: From the circumstance of my having been cast 
‘out of heaven,’ must I not have gotten there, upon Dr. Hopkins’s 
principles of natural ability? Certainly I must. For the scrip- 
tures say, all who get there by grace, through faith in the son of 
God, ‘go out no more.’ And if all who go there on this principle, 
are in danger of being driven out, had not the most of the Hopkins- 
ians now living, better do their ‘first works over’ again? Indeed, 
editor Hoyt, of the parish of Maryville, in publishing his phil- 
ippics soon after this occurrence, in common with other editors, . 
remarked, that on a certain morning ‘a phenomena appeared in the 
heavens, which greatly alarmed the inhabitants!’—that is, the 
inhabitants of Heaven; for he makes a full stop after the word 
inhabitants. 


17 


258 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Now, brother Hoyt would have his readers believe, that the 
inhabitants of the good world were as ‘greatly alarmed’ on seeing 
the meteors, as were the pius priests and Levities of Maryville, 
on hearing that the Cholera was in West Tennessee! And, I 
suppose, that if the priests themselves had not been ‘greatly alarm- 
ed,’ they would have taken the advantage of the occasion, as they 
did in the case of the Cholera, and thereby produced another 
“great revial’ of religion! 

“But, if any of the inhabitants of heaven were alarmed on the 
morning of the memorable thirteenth of November, they must 
have been Hopkinsians; for sure I am, that no persons who have 
gone there diegratia, have ever been alarmed at an occurrence 
which could be accounted for on principles of philosophy. For, 
from the very constitution of the human mind, it is evident, that 
every branch of science is recognized and fully understood by the 
righteous, in the blessed world above us. 

“Tf the considerations now adduced be admitted to have any 
force, and if the position I have endeavored to establish, cannot be 
overthrown, either on scriptural or rational grounds—it must 
follow, I think, that brother Hoyt is altogether mistaken. But 
who informed him that the inhabitants of heaven were alarmed? 
Iam conscious of not having reported such a thing on my return to 
earth. He must have gotten his information from this sagacious 
lady! 

“Upon the whole, I have much reason to rejoice and give thanks 
for what I heard, and seen, and felt, during this year, and to re- 
gret that any circumstance should have occurred to prevent greater 
good from being done. But my regrets, though profound, shall be 
temperate and resigned, as one who mourns over a dispensation of 
Providence which seems to have been inevitable, and has been 
mercifully delayed far beyond what I could have expected. Deep, 
sincere, and lasting, will be these sensations, and mingled with 
them, the consolatory reflection, that I was acting correctly, and to 
the best of my abilities, endeavoring to promote the cause of truth. 


“Dandridge, and the country round about, in a moral point 
of view, is a cold, unhealthy, damp and foggy region! When in 
this region, I felt pretty much as I suppose Job did when in the 
hands of the enemy. ‘The Hopkinsians of this region, are fully as 
hostile to Methodism as any set I ever met with. When they 
speak of the Methodists, they do it without ceremony. They 
constantly appoint opposition meetings, to keep their members 
from attending Methodist meetings. In short, they oppose Meth- 
odism in every way; and latterly, they have opposed it under a 
false pretence of friendship, by endeavoring to persuade some of 
our own members that they feel a deep concern for our prosperity! 

‘‘Whenever they could hear of any one that had fallen out with 
me, or who had any slang to retail concerning me, they would 
flock to, and hang around such an one, like famished calves around 
a parent cow! 


. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 259 


“Tn a word, their employment during this year, with here and 
there an exception, was, to either ruminate upon the rugged hills 
of malice, or to skulk about in the hollow caverns of falsehood, in 
pursuit of those whom they sought to devour. And yet, aiter 
death, they expect to goto heaven. It is devoutly hoped they may. 
But the heaven to which they are now journeying, I fear, is a 
dreadful place, the geographical location of which is nowhere, and 
whose tenants are the haggard phantoms of an over-heated im- 
agination! 


“The Lord, the Judge, his churches warns: 
Let hypocrites attend and fear, 

Who place their hopes in rites and forms, 
But make not faith nor love their care. 


Wretches! they dare rehearse his name, 
With lips of falsehood and deceit; 

A friend or borther they defame, 
And soothe and flatter those they hate.’ 


“This year, at the request of the editor of the New Market 
Telegraph, I wrote several articles for publication in this paper— 
none of them were controversial. I wrote over the signature of 
“An Observer;’ and as it was not known who the writer was, most 
of these articles were quite popular with the Hopkinsians. But I 
felt confident that they would not be received, if they knew who 
the writer was. Hence, I determined to make an experiment. 
I wrote an article headed, ‘THERE IS A GOD,’ and endeavored 
to sustain the position by adducing the evidences of nature, reason, 
and revelation, making known at the same time that I was the 
author. Well, as strange as it may seem, I heard of two or three 
persons who objected to the article, and espoused the opposite 
side of the question, saying in effect, that there was NO GOD! 

“During the month of June, in this year, a most vulgar, abusive 
and shameful publication, appeared against me in the New-Market 
Telegraph, entitled a ‘Protest,’ and having the signature ofa poor, 
miserable creature tacked on to it, equally destitute of character 
and standing. But, I did not let myself down, in a formal way, 
to answer the publication under consideration; and some supposed, 
from this consideration, that I admitted the allegations it contained 
to be true. The truth is, however, I did not wish to wage either 
a defensive or offensive war with a misnomer. Nor can I con- 
descend hereafter, to notice in any way, anything emanating from 
any such source, unless a voucher, or endorser of some note can be 
found to father what may appear. However, it has since been 
discovered, that this production was written by a Hopkinsian 
clergyman, and that the real author had only made a cat’s paw of 
this miserable creature, whose name accompanies the same. The 
author of the piece, however, very artfully introduced a quantity 
of bad spelling, and sorry punctuation; and in numbers, he gen- 


260 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


erally confounded the singular with the plural, and but seldom used 
the proper tense, intending thereby to influence the community 
to believe, that his relative had written it sure enough. 


“Early in the month of August, in this year, a small circular 
made its appearance against me, purporting to be an appeal to the 
‘Christian public,’ coming from the meridian of Western North 
Carolina, and having the names of seventeen men annexed there- 
unto. This miserable thing was afterwards published in the 
‘Christian Index,’ and ‘Baptist Miscellany,’ a religious paper 
published in Washington, Georgia, a few copies of which found 
their way into Tennessee, and were read with great avidity by the 
ignorant Baptists, and malicious Hopkinsians of my acquaintance. 
This circular, or ‘half-sheet,’ asit has since been denominated, was 
intended to be a reply to a pamphlet I published thirteen months 
before its appearance, consisting of thirty-six octavo pages. Somefew 
of the signers of this document, incline to the Hopkinsians; others 
of them are the oldest and most bigotted members of the Baptist 
church in that country; and others of them, as the saying is, lean 
towards the Baptists. And six out of the seventeen, are the rela- 
tives of the Baptist preacher with whom I had the lawsuit! In 
short, I have recently learned, that only one man out of the seven- 
teen can be considered, in any respect, friendly to the Methodist 
church; and this poor little man permitted the Baptists to make 
a tool of him, in order to accomplish some political ends. In 
proof of their opposition to the Methodist church, they style the 
Methodists in that country a ‘lawless mob!’ As to the number of 
names attached to this circular, I care not for this circumstance 
For had the writer written ten times as much more, and had it 
been ten times as slanderous as it is, these men would have stuck 
their paws toit. And if the firm will yet take the pains to come to 
Tennessee, they may find one hundred persons, who will either 
certify or swear, anything against me, their malice and ingenuity 
may dictate. Still, I stand as fair, and have as many friends in 
Tennessee as I desire to have. But these certifiers never advance 
an argument in their production. ‘Take for example the following 
sentence: ‘The evidence is so caricatured, that it is impossible 
for any person to understand, from the reading of his pamphlet, 
anything in truth about the matter!!!’ Now it is a little strange, 
that there should not be ‘anything in truth,’ concerning a certain 
matter, in a pamphlet of thirty-six pages, when that whole pam- 
phlet too, was written upon that one single subject! As to the 
impossibility of understanding the pamphlet, I have no doubt but 
those persons against whom it was written, would rejoice, could 
they believe it had not been read and fully understood by thous- 
ands. With what unpardonable laxity these certifiers have writ- 
ten! The whole pamphlet is false! And why is it false? Why, 
because! Because what? Just because it is!! Exquisite reason- 
ing this!!! However, with a certain class of persons, strong as- 
sertions have great weight. 


ANDREW JACKSON IN 1819 
Painted by C. W. Peale, 1741-1827. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 261 


“After an attentive perusal of this affair, I hesitated whether I 
ought to take any notice of it or not. However, I ultimately 
replied to it, in a pamphlet of twelve pages. This hesitation, 
however, did not arise from any conviction on my part, of the dif- 
ficulty of answering it; but mostly from an unwillingness to make 
something out of nothing. For surely he must be very indifferent- 
ly employed, who would take upon himself to answer non-sense 
in form; to ridicule what is of itself ridiculous; and trouble the 
world to read a second seomething, for the sake of the impertinen- 
ces of a former—to which his is a reply. 

“In conclusion, I know not to what school of morals I shall 
trace the unblushing and false charges with which this circular 
abounds. ‘The guilt of lying, which attaches itself to the features 
of the thing, is that of the most odious kind; it is guilt, the off- 
spring of malice, illy reflected on, deeply corrupt, shamefully 
false, and secretly though badly matured. 

“STEAM DOCTORS! — During this year, in the county of 
Jefferson, I renewed my acquaintance with a species of vermin 
called “steam doctors.’’ During the spring and summer of 1833, 
in South Carolina and Georgia, I became personally acquainted 
with several of these miscreants, and with feelings of indescribable 
horror, I witnessed the spread of carnage, rapine and death, under 
their administration; and I then hoped, I might never meet with 
them again. Butalas! I found them in great abundance in this 
part of Tennessee. These miserable victims to human refine- 
ment and intelligence, go about transforming portions of gum, 
p2pper and alcohol, into a strong decotion called number six; and 
by a sort of mechanical process, they steam the animal life out of a 
man, almost in a moment, and thus cause him, in short order, to 
exchange an earthly, for a heavenly inheritance! ‘These are won- 
derful men! Their mental eyes survey the whole circle of the 
science of medicine, and point out the path by which every branch 
of knowledge may be carried to perfection! They can detach the 
element of fire from the invisible air, surrounding a weed called 
lobelia, and cause the strongest constitution, and the stoutest 
frame to melt like wax under its powerful agency! ‘These steamers 
can go still farther. They can penetrate beyond the limits of all 
that is visible in the immense world of experiments and range 
amidst the infinity of unknown systems and worlds dispersed 
throughout the boundless regions of Thomsonianism, and they 
can overleap the bounds of time, and expatiate amidst future 
scenes of misery, and pain, and suffering, and man-slaughter and 
murder, which ‘eye hath not seen,’ nor even ‘ear heard,’ throughout 
the countless ages of their infamous duration! 

‘“‘Socrates, Plato, Archimedes, Newton, Locke, Boyle, La Place, 
and all other similar illustrious characters, Oh! that you were now 
living! That you might witness a demonstration of the vast 
capacity of the human intellect, the extensive range of thought 
it is capable of prosecuting, and the immense number of ideas 


262 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


steaming crusaders, who are marching in such wild confusion 
through the country, can distinguished between the muscles and 
the bones belonging to the human frame, and the lacteal and 
lymphatic vessels of the same; or the veins and arteries belonging 
to man, and tympanum of his ear! 

“Now, there is one consideration, which, apart from all others, 
is of itself sufficient, to forever fix the doom of this system of prac- 
tice. It is this: they apply the same remedy to all sorts of com- 
plaints. All who know anything about diseases and remedies, 
know very well that that which relieves a person in certain cases 
of affliction, is death to the individual in other cases. And though 
this odious prodigy of would-be doctors, has now become almost as 
numerous as the croaking fry of Egypt, and though I perceive’ no 
limits to the excursions of these man-killers, but those which arise 
from the triumphant march of common sense; yet, until I wish to 
exchange worlds, or find myself chained down, as it were, with an 
unwieldly corporeal frame, I will never suffer one of them to 
come about me. I have never had any sickness in my life (thanks 
be to God for his mercies), and consequently have never needed 
a physician of any kind, farther than to give me some one or two 
simple doses of medicine; but should I ever need one, and one of the 
old school cannot be had, I shall certainly prefer dying a natural 
death, to be killed. However, we live in a free country, and all 
who prefer steaming have a right to be steamed or hanged or 
drowned, or put to rest in such other way as they choose. 


“But in conclusion, I will take the liberty of advising the Meth- 
odist clergy, generally, to have nothing at all to do with this pepper 
and whiskey system of practice. It will do very well to connect 
this system of practice with the womanish, squeaking, canting, 
odd, whimsical, whining tone, and insipid jargon of a Baptist 
preacher. Or it would suit the cold-blooded selfishness of a Hop- 
kinsian priest, who believes that the introduction of moral evil into 
the world, is for the greatest good of the universe! But never 
let a Methodist preacher, who believes that men are to be judged 
according to their works, have any thing to do with the wretched 
system. Nor never let a Methodist preacher use the medicines, 
unless, in the language of Job, he prefers ‘strangling and death, 
rather than life.’ And let a Methodist preacher, instead of reading 
these doctor books, read that noble and excellent book, the old 
records of God’s providence. Finally, there is nothing more 
disgusting to me, than to see a Methodist minister with a Bible and 
hymn book in one end of his saddle bags, and a large black bottle 
full of number six, stopped with a corn cob, having a rag around it, 
in the other end! Well may the Presbyterians charge such with 
being incompetent. Brethern, quit it! For God’s sake—for 
your own credit’s sake—and for the sake of the honor of Meth- 
odism, quitit! And let all our people say amen! 

“HOLSTON SEMINARY— In the close of this year, I at- 
tended the semi-annual examination of this institution, which 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 263 


it is capable of acquiring! Esculapius, thou father of the science 
of medicine, Rush, and all others who have since written, and all 
ye knowing men, so far as the science of medicine is concerned, 
that you were yet living! that you might witness the new dis- 
coveries in the healing art, which these reformers are making! 
And ye sublimer sciences of Geometry, Trigonometry, Conic Sec- 
tions, Fluxions, Algebra, and other branches of mathematics, stand 
aside, and see Thomsonianism evince the acuteness and perspi- 
cacity of the human intellect! Our world has produced numerous 
philanthropic characters, who have shone as lights in the moral 
world, and have acted as benefactors to the human race. But 
the names of Alfred, Penn, Barnard, Raikes, Neilde, Clarkson, 
Sharpe, Buxton, Wilberforce, Venning, and many others, so fa- 
miliar to all who are at all acquainted with the annals of benevo- 
lence, must give way to these new-comers! These illustrious 
steamers, from a principle of pure benevolence, devote their lives 
to active beneficence, and to the alleviation of human wretched- 
ness, in every section where they travel,—diving into the depths of 
coves, and exposing themselves to the infectious atmosphere of 
towns and villages, in order to ameliorate the conditions of the 
afflicted! 

“From realm to realm with cross or crescent crowned, 

Where’er mankind and misery are found, 

O’er towering mountains, deep valleys, or wilds of snow 

These steamers journeying seek the house of woe! 

They go, inemulous of fame or wealth, 

Profuse of toil and progidal of health; 

Lead stern-ey’d calomel to certain dark domains, 

If not to sever—to relax its chains; 

Persecuted and opposed, by the living and the dead, 

Regardless of them all, as Crockett says, they ‘go ahead!’ 

Onward they move! disease and death retire, 

While the Old Faculty hate them and admire.” 

“But as a supplement to the preceding eulogy, it may be serious- 
ly asked—is it possible that an obscure, and ordinary citizen, 
possessing neither learning nor superior powers of intellect, and 
having read but very few books of any kind, can spring up like 
a mushroom—purchase ‘a right’ for twenty dollars—and all of a 
sudden, become fully acquainted with the human system, and the 
various and complicated diseases of our country, and as suddenly 
effect a cure for them all? If such a supposition could be ad- 
mitted, man would be the most inexplicable phenomenon in the 
universe; his existence an unfathomable mystery; and there could 
be no conceivable mode of reconciling his condition and destination 
with the wisdom, the rectitude, and the benevolence of his Creator! 
I do not say that all the steam-doctors are ignorant and unlearned; 
but in the language of St. Paul, I do say, that the most of them 
have ‘streched themselves beyond their measure,’ and that they 
‘boart in another man’s line of things.’ And not one in ten of these 


264 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


took place in the hall of the seminary. ‘The exercises were con- 
ducted under the special directions of Mr. Saffel, the president of 
the institution, and in his usually prompt and efficient manner, 
who, on the last day of the examination read an eloquent, learned 
and appropriate address. The students were all examined very 
minutely, in the various branches of literature in which they had 
been engaged during the session, and in the hearing of a number of 
visitors, acquitted themselves with great honor. On the last day 
of the examination, the students closed by delivery, each, an ora- 
tion, of original composition; and in this, particularly, they did 
themselves great honor, and greatly delighted the listening audi- 
tory. 

_ “The friends of this institution may rest assured that East 
Tennessee does not afford a finer young man than Mr. Saffel, or 
one better qualified, in every respect, to take charge of an insti- 
tution of the kind; and the conference which appointed him to 
preside over it, has more than once expressed its entire satisfaction 
as to the manner in which he has performed his arduous duties. 

“T thus particularize, because I wish to recommend this in- 
stitution to all, into whose had a copy of this work shall fall. 

“This seminary, was set on foot three years ago, under the 
patronage of the Holston annual conference, of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, at the suggestion of the members and friends 
of said church, who desire an opportunity of giving their children 
an education, on reasonable terms, without endangering both 
their religious principles and moral habits—as is the case at our 
public colleges and academies. Still, ours is not a theological 
institution. 

‘“The town in which this seminary. is located—New-Market, 
Jefferson County, Tennessee—is a beautiful little village, situated 
in one of the most fertile valleys in the state. 

“Beside the advantage already named, and many others not 
named, which this institution possesses—I would mention the 
cheapness of tuition and boarding. 

‘‘Once more: The time has at length arrived, when the trustees 
of this institution, have found themselves able to commence the 
manual labor system, in connection with the seminary, by means of 
which, industrious and promising young men, destitute of pe- 
cuniary means, may acquire an education. 

“During this year, I incurred the sore displeasure of the Hop- 
kinsians by circulationg a pamphlet entitled, ‘Calvinism, and its 
influence on the church,’ written and published by ‘Rev. James 
Cumming, a minister of high standing in the Holston Conference. 
I had no further connection with this production, than simply to 
circulate it; and this I did with great pleasure. This pamphlet 
is well written, and for its size, is the best exposition of the kind I 
have ever seen. And the truth is, it is unanswerable. The Hop- 
kinsians, however, have replied to it, in the way they generally 
reply to a production of the kind, they have affected to treat it with 
silent contempt! 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 265 


“1834— Knoxville, Tennessee, October 15th. Our conference 
is now in session in this place, and has been since Wednesday, the 
8th of this instant. Our bishop having failed to attend with us, 
from some unknown cause, we have called our esteemed friend and 
brother, John Henninger, to the chair, who has filled the highly 
responsible station in such way, as to do honor to himself, and at 
the same time give general satisfaction to the conference. 

“The preachers have generally attended, and are in the en- 
joyment of usual health and spirits. Thus, God in his goodness 
has rolled us together once more. What changes have been wit- 
nesses since we assembled last. How many of our friends have 
gone to reap their reward in heaven, while we have been spared as 
monuments of unchanging goodness! Yes, the recurrence of 
another annual meeting, in the history of our conference, calls for 
the public expression of our gratitude to the great head of the 
church, that we have been privileged one time more, to mingle 
our praises and thanksgivings together here in the temple of the 
Lord, and in celebration of the prosperity of our efforts. As 
ministers, these thoughts should lead us to a serious examination 
of our hearts before God, to ascertain whether or not we are grow- 
ing wiser and better in proportion to the privileges we enjoy, and 
the opportunity of improvement afforded us. The year just past, 
has been replete with such events, as have left the public mind in 
that state of excitement which is not very friendly to the prosperity 
of religion. And even now, both the civil and religious atmos- 
pheres, seem highly charged with combustible materials. What 
the final issue of all these things will be, time alone can tell. How- 
ever, in the midst of the ‘signs of the times,’ God has abundantly 
blessed ‘the labors of his servants, in various parts of the world. 


“From this conference I hope to be enabled to date the com- 
mencement of the reign of reform—a most signal triumph of Wes- 
leyan itinerancy over a sort of legalized semi-itinerancy. 

“It is manifest that our people are on the eve of revolting in 
disgust from established local traveling ministry. For one, 
I rejoice to think that our conference is about to be redeemed from 
the sway of a miserable system of ‘accommodation,’ whose whole 
course for several years past, has tended to anarchy and destruc- 
tion, in a moral point of view. By this, I mean that we, as a con- 
ference, have, for several years past, paid too much attention to 
the interests of individuals, and not enough to the wants of thé 
circuits and stations within our bounds. These remarks are cor- 
rect. They are truth—every word truth. 

“As a conference, we have an immense field spread out before 
us, and great encouragement to labor. I say encouragement to 
jabor, for I apprehend that some of our friends have incorrect 

deas of the real state of things, and having heard so much of the 
triumphs of the cross in different parts of the country, and of the 
utter defeat and ruin of so many enemies of the Son of God, are 
disposed to regard the soldiers they have sent hither, rather as a 


266 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


garrison quartered in an enemy’s country in a time of profound 
peace, than as an army with their weapons in their hands, daily 
meeting and contending with the foes of their king. But, I must 
not be regarded as attempting to discourage the exertions, to dead- 
en the hopes, and to quell the spirits of our friends by proclaiming 
to the world, that nothing is doing in the Holston conference. 
Nor is there a lack of harmony in our conference. Nor yet, do the 
tongues of our preachers, when in the pulpit, dance only to the 
jingle of the dollars and cents in the people’s treasury, as is the 
case with some of our clerical neighbors. Of such neibhbors, I . 
have only to say, I am puzzled to account for their conduct up- 
on any known principle of ministerial fidelity. 

“That which has most particularly arrested my attention at 
this conference, is the circumstance of so many of the preachers 
having married the past year. Never have I known so many of 
them to marry in one year. But, I cannot object to this—for, 
as Cowper, who by the by, was a hypochondriac old bachelor, 
asked: 

“What is there, in the vale of life, 
Half so delightful as a wife?” 


“Old bachelor! are you so lost to a sense of the pleasures and 
enjoyments of a married life, that you can remain contented in a 
state of ‘single blessedness,’ while the old and young, the middle 
aged, and all around you, are joining their hearts and hands in this 
lawful and scriptural enterprise? But do you excuse yourself on 
the ground, that no one seems willing to have you? ‘This is by no 
means a plausible excuse; for it is well known, that every old widow, 
maid and girl, in all the country, are candidates for matrimony. 

“As an individual, I have ever stood aloof from every-thing like 

coquetry, and I hope ever to do so. ‘The truth is, no gentleman 
ever did or ever will make a constant practice of courting every 
girl he might chance to meet with, and impress the belief upon 
her mind that he intended to marry her, &c. Much less would 
a christian minister act thus. And although I never was engaged 
to be married, and never even asked a female to marry me in my 
life, yet, I have some good desires, as the Hopkinsians would say, 
on this subject; and I think it quite probable, I shall some day or 
other, make some amorous advances towards some one. For, 
born as man obviously is, for the companionship of his fellows, 
*it must be evident that the main tendencies and aptitudes of 
his nature, should every day be looked for in connection with his 
social relationships. After the marriage ceremony is the most 
interesting spectacle social life exhibits. To see two rational beings 
in the glow of youth and hope, which invests life with a ‘halo 
of glory,’ appear together, and openly acknowledging their pref- 
erence for each other, voluntarily enter into a league of perpetual 
friendship and christian union—is it not delightful? Be constant 
my brother—Be condescending, my sister—and what can earth 
_offer so pure as your friendship, so dear as your affection? Well 
might Virgil say: 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY . 267 


“The wife and husband equally conspire, 

To work by night, and rake the winter fire: 
He sharpens torches in the glimmering room; 

She shoots the flying shuttle through the loom; 
Or boils in kettles must of wine, and skins. 

With leaves, the dregs that over flow the brims. 
And till the watchful cook awake the day, 

She sings to drive the tedious hours away.’’ 

“As my book is now printing, I have gone to the office and 
examined that part which is ready for folding. I consider that 
the type for its size is very good, and seems to be well distributed 
over the page; so that the words are everywhere sufficiently dis- 
tinct, which is not always the case with the books printed in this 
country. The paper is good—the ink very good, and the typo- 
graphical execution quite respectable. Of course I think the 
matter is excellent. I am also of opinion, that the punctuation 
is at least passable. But my readers, I presume, will not, as do the 
Mahommedans, consider the points essential. 

“This work, from first to last, be it well or ill executed, has not 
been done without great labor and toil, on my part, nor has any 
labor been omitted, to make it, in every respect, as far as possible, 
what the title page promises—‘Helps to the Study of Presbyterian- 
ism,’ &c. Thus, through the merciful assistance of God, my labor 
now terminates, a labor which, were it yet to be commenced, I 
would, in view of its being called for, most cheerfully undertake. 
Since it is finished, I regret not the labor; while writing it I have 
had ‘the testimony of a good conscience.’ 

“Having critically and cautiously examined a point in the 
prosecution of this work, I have fearlessly followed the convictions 
of my own mind, without servilely crouching to the opinions of 
others, whether right or wrong. Having carefully studied a subject, 
deriving all the light I could from every source within my reach, 
without timidly calculating the consequences which might result 
from publishing my convictions in reference to it, I have boldly 
proclaimed what I conscientiously believed, allowing others the 
liberty of thinking, writing, speaking, and acting for themselves. 
And, while this fearless course subjects me to censure from the 
timid, as well as unmerited abuse from the bigotted, it will re- 
lieve me from servilely imitating others, and secure to me the 
approbation of an approving conscience. And let my occupa- ° 
tion in future life be what it may, God forbid that I ever should 
pursue that timid and vascillating course of conduct, which evinces 
a greater solicitude to please the multitude than to arrive at truth, 
and to obtain popular applause at the expense of a good conscience! 
And may the Lord pity the man, who would compromit his char- 
acter, by prostrating principle, before the idol of popularity! 

“At this conference, which has just closed, I have been ap- 
pointed to travel the Scott circuit, in Virginia. I shall set out for 
the circuit in a few days. I am told this circuit is situated in the 
mountainous part of the state—in a fine grazing country, which 
enables the farmer to raise stock, &c. The valleys between the 
mountains are generaly fertile, and produce excellent grain. 


268 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“RELIGION: Methodists are the most numerous denomi- 
nation. Next to these, the Baptists. 

“CLIMATE: Scott county enjoys a mild climate. 

“The weather is generally moderate till towards Christmas, 
when winter commences, and continues variable till the middle of 
March, sometimes pleasant, and at other times disagreeable. 

“The life of a Methodist travelling preacher, with all its losses, 
crosses, and disappointments, has nevertheless been a pleasant one 
to me; and had its vicissitudes been more numerous and grevious 
than they even were, I should not have retired from the field. 
On every circuit I have travelled, there have been acts of kindness 
paid to me which, though I can never repay them in this life, I 
will never forget them. Kind attentions are at all times pleasent, 
but when one is far from home, and among strangers, it is delight- 
ful indeed to meet with those who are kind and affectionate. My 
stay on each circuit, has of course been short, but I shall long 
remember the polite, yea, the christian.friendship of many persons 
on those circuits. There is something in these transient attach- 
ments which show us that we were born to do each other good, 
notwithstanding all the evil there is in the world. But to many 
of those friends, whose kindness induced me to love them as re- 
lations, I have long since bid a last adieu, perhaps, no more to 
meet, till, 


‘““Wrapt in fire the realms of ether glow, 
And heaven’s last onset shakes the world below.” 


And O Lord, irradiate our minds with all useful truth, instill 
into our hearts a spirit of benevolence, give us understanding, 
meekness, temperance, fortitude, patience, and all the excellent 
graces of the Spirit. Be indulgent to our imperfect nature, and 
supply our imperfections with thy heavenly favor. 


Conclusion. 


“T have a few remarks to make on some four or five points, 
before I finally close. As aman, and as a minister, I am objected 
to from several considerations, by many within the circle of my 
acquaintance. Every man living, has those within his vicinity 
who hate, who envy, and affect to despise him;—these will see his 
’ actions with a jaundiced eye, and will represent them to others 
in the same light in which they themselves behold them. No 
virtue, no prudence, no caution or generosity, can preserve a man 
from misrepresentations; his conduct must be judged of by weak 
and prejudiced intellects, or by such as only see a part of it, and 
hastily form a judgment of the whole. Well might the poet say:— 


‘‘When cruel slander takes her impious flight, 
What man’s secure against her baleful sway, 
Virtue herself must sink in shades of night, 
And spotless innocence must fall a prey.” 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


This photograph is from an engraving sent to Dr. E. M. Patterson by Andrew Jackson, thanking Dr. Patterson 
for some new corn meal, a neighborly gift. Dr. Patterson lived in Davidson County, Tennessee. The engray~ 
ing is now the property of Hon. Jno. W. Gaines of Nashville, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 269 


“T will state the several objections urged against me, and answer 
them in detail. I say I hasten to reply to these several objections, 
with the hope that my remarks will be read—carefully and candidly 
read—hby every class of readers. I intend no quibbling—no special 
pleading. I shall plead upon the broad merits of the case, First, 
Inconsistency of Character: 


“This is the most common, though not the most inconsiderable 
objection to me, asa minister. By the term inconsistency, we are 
to understand a disagreement—incongruity. When, therefore, 
it is urged that I am inconsistent, it is not intended to say that I 
am hypocritical, or that I am clad with a tissue of deception, by 
which I impose on my fellow-creatures. I am glad of this, for of 
all the offsprings of depravity, deception, perhaps, bears the nearest 
resemblance to its father the devil. But tothe subject. It is true, 
I cannot mingle in my looks, the piety of Abraham, the meekness of 
Moses, and the fervor of Isaiah; nor am I exact to a degree of 
scrupulosity in small matters, and at the same time neglect the 
most important points in the law of God. I have never thought 
myself deputed from the heaven for the general reformation of 
manners, nor would I try all men at my bar. Nor yet, am I one of 
those blind guides, who would strain at a gnat and wallow a camel. 
I have my faults, no doubt, as well as all other men—I am not in- 
falliable, because Iam notimmortal. There are spots in the sun— 
there are specks in me. JI am a man, and therefore liable to err. 
Yes, I am a right down man, and without any sort of disguise, 
I exhibit to the world what I am. In a word, many say, ‘Lo! 
here is Christ, or Christ is there,’ but few can consistently witness 
that ‘ the kingdom of heaven is within them.’ With more truth 
than ever, we may say: 


“Ve different sects, who all declare, 
Lo! here is Christ, or Christ is there; 
Your stronger proofs divinely give, 
And show us where the christians live; 
Your claim, alas! ye cannot prove, 

Ye want the genuine mark of love.” 


“A Great Many Persons Dislike Me: 


“Yo this I reply, that every man who does his duty in life, 
in the uncompromising spirit of integrity, must make enemies, 
and meet with opposition. Daniel, Isaiah, Micah, Elijah, and all 
the Lord’s faithful prophets, had their enemies. So had Peter, 
and Paul, and James and the rest of the apostles. In modern 
times, what man had more enemies than Luther?—And Knox, 
and Wesley, and Fletcher, and Whitfield?; not comparing myself 
to them however. Even the mild and amiable Son of the Most 
High, could not escape the persecutions of the wicked. And 
every faithful witness for the Saviour, may expect to be constantly 
exposed to the enmity of evil doers. While I dwell in a ‘ house of 


270 _ ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


clay whose foundation is the dust;’ while I sojourn in ‘a land of 
pits and snares,’ and within ‘ the region of the shadow of death; ’ 
while I walk amidst scenes of sorrow and suffering, surrounded by 
‘the tents of strife,’ and exposed to the malice of ‘ lying lips and 
deceitful tongues,’ I am admonished not to make any other calcu- 
lations, but to ‘ suffer for righteousness sake.’ As long as I live, 
I expect to stand as a mark, for the vengeance of cankered hearts, 
and the malice of envenomed tongues. Nor do I even desire a 
different state of things. 


“No glory I covet, no riches I want, 

Ambition is nothing to me; 

The one thing I beg of kind heaven to grant, 
Is a mind independent and free. 

With passion unruffl’d untaint ’d with pride, 
By reason my life let me square; 

The wants of my nature are chiefly suppli ’d, 
And the rest is but folly and care.” 


“Indeed, it is a matter of but little consequence with me, to 
hear, that this, that, or the other man, is displeased with me, and 
“utter loud swelling words’ against m2. One among the many 
incontestible evidences I have, of making advancement in the 
divine life is, that all men do not speak well of me. I rather re- 
quest of all, who, when they look at me, have a blot on their optics, 
and over the same spectacles of malice, never to say anything in 
my favor. And I should be seriously alarmed, to learn certainly, 
that the community at large, admire me, or that I am exceedingly 
popular. I hope, therefore, always to have certain winning ways, 
to make a certain class of human beings hate me! For by this I 
shall know, I amiin the road to a better world. Said a divine 
personage, ‘ Wo unto you, when all men speak well of you! for so 
did their fathers of the false prophets. ’And again: ‘ If the world 
- hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.’ Again: 
‘ If ye were of the world the world would love his own: but because 
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, 
therefore the world hateth you.’ And again: ‘ Blessed are ye, 
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all 
manner of evil against' you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and 
be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so 
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.’ And to cap 
the climax, Christ says: ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it 
hated me before it hated you.’ Now, the religion which can 
endure these things, is a firm and effectual support in the midst of 
every calamity to which a believer is exposed. Is the christian 
persecuted ?—this is a part of his earthly inheritance. Is he visited 
with sickness?—he anticipates the period when pain and sorrow 
shall forever flee away. Is he oppressed by poverty? he reflects 
with peculiar delight, upon the treasure which he possesses in the 
heavens. In a word, he knows and believes, that all things shall 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 271 


work together for his good; and that his light afflictions, which are 
but for a moment, shall work out for him a far more exceeding, 
even an eternal weight of glory. 


“BUT I AM ALWAYS QUARRELLING. 


“To this grave charge, I reply, I have, it is true, been engaged in 
several judicial and clerical contests; but I assert, in view of a judg- 
ment to come, that I have never engaged in any controversy what- 
ever, unless I myself, my brethern in the ministry, or our doctrines 
and institutions, have first been assailed. And in defense of 
each, or all of these, I would risk as many characters, lives and 
fortunes, ii I had them, as there are atoms of the universe, or 
minims embodying the immensity of space. Yes, should secret 
calumnies and public scandals, private associations and public 
testimonies, ridicule, and satire, poetry and prose, paragraphs and 
pamphlets, dreams, and dialogues, and all the presses and lying 
tongues, in the union, be employed against me, I shall neverthe- 
less maintain the truth. For I have embarked in the glorious 
enterprise of preaching the gospel, with a proportion of ambition 
and zeal, and with a perseverance not to be daunted by the chilling 
and sickening blasts of poverty and persecution. Therefore, I am 
prepared to endure all the dreadful consequences of sectarian 
malice and management, even should they include—pains and 
penalties—bills of attainder—confiscation of estate—all the horors 
of ecclesiastical and civil war—nay, death upon the scaffold! 

“Then let it be urged, that I am, and always have been, ‘a 
mover of seditions’—the pest of general society, and the fruitful 
source of domestic broils; or a being whose heart is full of rancor 
and animosities, jarring affections, and discordant and malevolent 
feelings! Yes, ring my death knell from steep to steep—let its 
swelling sounds be heard in startling echoes, mingling with the 
rush of the mountains’ torrents, and the mighty cataract’s earth- 
quake voice! Spread the unfurled banner of calumny upon every 
breeze—let it float in the atmosphere till my name becomes a 
mockery and a byword! Like the Phoenix, in newness of beauty 
and majesty, amid the fires of opposition, I hope to rise to victory 
and triumph. What can be more noble than to brave the censure 
of disappointed ambition—to bear with arrogance, pride, and in- 
firmities of a priest-riden community, and blind bigots, for the 
good of mankind! To suffer all this, I am perfectly aware, must 
require a considerable degree of moral courage; and I think I possess 
the courage that can endure it all, and even death itself. I pretend 
not to be a candidate for the honors of martydom, yet, I should 
feel that I had gone down to my grave disgraced, did I not incur 
the censure and abuse of bloated bigotry, and priestly corruption. 


“MY STYLE AS A WRITER, TALENTS AS A PREACHER, 
AND MANNERS AS A MAN: 


“When I write, preach, converse, or mingle with society, I do 
all after the texture so to speak, of my own mind. But it will be 


272 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


said, I am a minister of the gospel, and that no temptation, no 
unjust usage, should provoke me to come down from my high 
abode, and seat myself upon the dunghill of anger and revenge. 
This is all very true. I believe the scriptures when they say, 
“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God.’ But 
I have yet to be convinced that it is sinful for a christian to defend 
himself, and that too, in an independent and pointed way. As 
in respects my accomplishments, I never professed to have a great 
deal of polish about me, nor do I desire to be polite. 

“As it regards my intellectual faculties, I never believed I was 
a Solomon. I have never been able as yet, by my flowing elo- 
quence, and manly arguments, or the incomparable liveliness and 
power of reasoning, to enable a congregation to see things that 
are not. I could never induce a man to believe, by the magic in- 
fluence of a long whining exhortation or prayer, that twice five 
would not make ten in America, as well asin France! Ina word, 
I never thought I was a great man—TI never desire to be what the 
world callsa great man. No verily: : 


‘‘My name from out the temple where the dead 
Are honored by the nations—let it be— 
And light the laurels on a loftier head! 
And be the Spartan’s epitaph on me— 
Sparta hath many a worthier son than he.’ 


In testimony whereof, I sign the same with my own hand, this 
seventeenth day of October, in the town of Knoxville, and state of 
Tennessee, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and 
thirty-four, and in the fifty-ninth year of American Independence. 


“William G. Brownlow.’’ 


MRS. MARY DONELSON WILCOX. 


Daughter of Major Andrew Jackson Donelson and great niece of Mrs. Andrew Jackson. Born in the White 
House in Jackson’s first administration; sister-in-law of Mrs. Bettie M. Donelson of Nashville, Tennessee, 
who was one of the five founders of the Ladies Hermitage Association of Tennessee ,and who for thirty years 


was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association. 


CHAPTER 11. 
Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox on Rachel Donelson 


erous facts and incidents connected with Jack- 
son, the Donelson family and Jackson’s two 
Administrations. 


EA eine Mave Ae AgFee Antena ete | 


eo 
a Jackson, wife of General Jackson, and on num- 
a 
a 
a 


| 


The matter in this chapter was written by Mary Emily Donelson 
Wilcox, and is reproduced as an authoritative statement from the 
standpoint of Mrs. Andrew Jackson’s family—the Donelsons — of 
many things connected with Jackson, Mrs. Jackson, the Donelsons, 
and Jackson’s two administrations. Coming from Mrs. Wilcox 
what is set out is historically very valuable, and, allowing for her 
warm advocacy of Mrs. Jackson and everything pertaining to 
Andrew Jackson, it can be accepted as throwing great light on 
matters which it undertakes to treat. There are statements in it 
which were first given to the public by Mrs. Wilcox by whom it 
’ was prepared for Leslie’s Magazine about twenty-five years ago. 
When Hon. Horace Maynard, deceased, formerly member of Con- 
gress from the Knoxville District, United States Minister to Turkey 
and Postmaster General, was holding the latter office, he gave Mrs. 
Wilcox an appointment in the postoffice department at Washing- 
ton. She was a sister-in-law of Mrs. Bettie M. Donelson now of 
Nashville who was one of the founders of the Ladies Hermitage 
Association of Tennessee, and, for about thirty years, a mem- 
ber of the Board of Directors. 

Major Andrew Jackson Donelson was a nephew of Mrs. -An- 
drew Jackson and son of Mrs. Jackson’s brother Samuel Jackson, 
who was a law partner of Andrew Jackson. Major Donelson was 
raised and educated by Gen. Jackson, graduated at West Point 
and accompanied Jackson as aide-de-camp to Florida in the Sem- 
inole War. He resigned his position in the Army when Jackson 
became President to perform the duties of his private secretary, 
which he did through the entire eight years of his presidency with 
the exception of a few months when the Peggy O'Neal differences 
were up. 

In the first presidential term a daughter, Mary Emily Donel- 
son, the author of this chapter, was born in the room of the White 


18 


274 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


House that fronts on Pennsylvania Avenue, and the christening of 
the infant was made a brilliant function. Representatives in Con- 
gress, Senators, Members of the Cabinet and the Diplomatic Corps, 
and prominent citizens were present at the cermony which was per- 
formed in the East Room by Rev. Mr. Gallaher, a Presbyterian 
Minister. The ritual of the protestant Episcopal Church was used. 
Miss Cora Livingston, daughter of the Secretary of State, was God- 
Mother, and Andrew Jackson and Martin VanBuren were God- 
Fathers. Robert E. Lee then a young lieutenant of engineers, was 
present with Mrs. Lee. 

At the close of Jackson’s second term, Major Donelson and 
family went back to the Hermitage and remained there for a period; 
and in 1846 he took his family with him to Prussia where he went 
as minister by appointment of President James K. Polk, and re- 
mained abroad five years, returning to the United States in 1851. 
On May 27th, 1852, his daughter Mary married John A. Wilcox, a 
member of congress from Mississippi, who had served as Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel in the Mexican War. The cermony was performed by 
Rev. Mr. Gallaher, the same who had christened the bride. Col. 
Wilcox subsequently moved to Texas and represented that State 
in the Confederate Congress. 


PART I 


‘To few women has history been so unjust as to Andrew Jack- 
son’s wife, and a review of her life, disproving the misstatements of 
her husband’s enemies, and showing her claims to the respect and 
admiration of her compatriots, seems demanded by right and 
justice. Well born, highly endowed, both mentally and personally, 
she enjoyed every educational advantage then attainable, and was 
the equal in culture and refinement of any mistress of the White 
House, not excepting Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Madison, and 
she was superior to these two in individual charm and native wit. 
Many of her letters still extant compare favorably in spelling, 
diction and entertaining information with any known to have been 
written by prominent women of her day. She inherited a musical 
ear, sang sweetly, and took great delight in playing on a piano 
similar in size and design to the one at Mount Vernon said to have 
belonged to and been used by Nelly Custis, which Jackson had 
obtained on one of his Eastern trips. He had a flute and violin, 
and playing duets was a favorite evening recreation. My father, 
who went to live with them when quite young, often mentioned his 
childish pleasure at hearing them play ‘“‘Campbells are Coming” 
and ‘‘Money Musk,”’ himself stowed away for the night in a corner 
trundle-bed, a pet cat and dog dozing on the hearth, forming de- 
lighted auditors of an enjoyable if not artistic concert. There are 
interesting traditions of her as an inimitable entertaining raconter. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 275 


“Mrs. Jackson’s father, Colonel John Donelson, was the only 
son of John Donelson, a successful London ship-merchant, who 
emigrated to America in 1716, settled on Delaware Bay, and married 
Catherine Davis, a sister of the famous Presbyterian divine. 
Their son, born in 1720, early gave promise of the energy, integrity 
and executive ability prominent in his after career. Having studied 
surveying and engineering, he married Rachel Stockley, of Mary-. 
land, and removed to Virginia, where the Colonial Government 
appointed him Surveyor of Pittsylvania County. Many lines and 
charts surveyed by him are still recognizable on maps, and some 
treaties negotiated by him as Colonial Agent with Indian tribes 
were never abrogated. Elected, in 1764, Colonel of a Colonial regi- 
ment, he served, in 1765, 66 and’67, inthe House of Burgesses, where 
his speeches on finance and taxation elicited favorable comment. 
Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry were personal friends 
and occasional guests at his comfortable Dominion home. Owning 
valuable iron works and large tracts of land, he was considered one 
of Virginia’s most respected and influential citizens; but becoming 
involved, by reason of some unfortunate securityships, he was fore- 
ed to sacrafice much valuable property, and concluded to emigrate 
West. He built, in 1779, mostly by his own means and labor, a 
flotilla of boats, accompanied by about forty emigrant families, 
embarked in December for the Cumberland settlements, Captain 
James Robertson, with a pioneer party, having preceded them to 
build cabins, plant corn, and otherwise provide for their comfort 
and safety. Colonel Donelson kept a diary, the first entry of which 
reads: “Journal of a voyage intended by God’s permission in the 
good ship Adventure, from Fort Patrick Henry, on the Holston 
River, to the French Lick Salt Springs, on the Cumberland’’— 
which is noteworthy not only because well spelled, well penned, 
well expressed, it describes geographically a remarkable expedition; 
but also because it is the only diary ever kept by a Western pioneer 
(those men, so brave and wise, seldom wielding pen or pencil), the 
only document illustrating the domestic life of those who subdued 
the wilderness and founded that great empire now leading and 
controlling national civilization. Conspicuous among the “‘good 
ship Adventure’s’ voyagers was Rachel, the youngest of Col- 
onel Donelson’s thirteen children, born in 1867. There are pleas- 
ant pictures of her leading the flatboat dance, steering the helm, 
while her father and brothers answered the fire of Indians lining the 
river banks, and of nursing the sick, cheering the disheartened, 
always bright and helpful. 

“The little colony encountered innumerable hardships and dan- 
gers. Indians were numerous and aggressive; provisions scarce; 
peace, comfort, pleasure impossible. Their brave leader, active 
and indefatigable, seemed almost ubiquitous—now crossing to 
Clover Bottom to plant the first corn and cotton grown south of 
the Ohio River, now locating lands in widely separated sections. 
now journeying to Kentucky. Returning from his second Ken- 
tucky trip about 1784, he was murdered, supposedly by Indians. 


276 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


After his death his widow, accompanied by her younger children, 
removed to Kentucky and settled in a neighborhood in which there 
lived a Widow Robards, who, having built a large handsome house, 
rented to Mrs. Donelson the one just vacated. 

“Tf historic injustice to Mrs Jackson be regretable, historic neg- 
lect of her first husband is equally so, and it seems unaccountable 
‘that, in the century in which he has been quoted as the unworthy 
husband of an injured wife, none of his relatives, many of whom 
were rich, influential and ditinguished, should have volunteered a 
word in his defense. About 1750 William Robards, a well-to-do 
Welchman, immigrated to America, settled in Goochland County, 
Virginia, and married Sally Hill, related to the Mosby, Lee, 
Imboden and Carter families. Two of their sons enlisted in 
Colonial regiments and became captains. When the war closed 
they emigrated to Kentucky, buying with the scrip accepted for 
military service land in Mercer County. ‘Their sisters, noted for 
beauty and social tact, made brilliant marriages, the eldest marry- 
ing Thomas Davis, first Congressman from Kentucky; the second, 
Floyd, Territorial Governor; the third, John Jouett, ancestor of 
the artist and Admiral Jouett; the youngest, William Buckner, 
ancestor of General Simon Boliver Buckner. ‘Their mother, proud 
and high-spirited, was considered the most influential personage 
in the Blue Grass region. Rachel Donelson’s wit, beauty and 
vivacity attracted many suitors, among whom was Lewis Robards. 
A speedy marriage, sanctioned by his mother and sisters, followed 
an ardent wooing. That she should have been welcomed to such 
a household is proof positive that the charges of her illiteracy, 
coarseness and levity were unfounded. He was handsome, well 
educated, polished in manner and conversation, far superior to 
any man of her acquaintance in those attributes supposed to have 
facination for women; but, high-tempered, jealous-hearted, he 
proved a cruel, tyrannical husband. 

“There are men—and men not altogether bad—with whose affect- 
ions there mingles a strain of singular perverseness. If they have- 
pets—cats, dogs, birds and horses—they tease and torment them, 
and their wivesand childrenare alternate victimsandidols. Robards 
belonged to this category. He doubtlessly loved his wife, but with 
a passion that blighted, violent love scenes would end in jealous 
wrangles, cruel taunts and upbraidings follow flattering endear- 
ments. The first object of his jealousy, Peyton Short, a young 
lawyer boarding with his mother (in those days, inns being scarce, 
private houses accomodated boarders) hearing of his suspicions, 
swore in court that he believed her to be a faithful wife, and that 
he had never addressed her an improper word. Surprising them 
chatting together on his mother’s porch, Lewis Robards sent a 
messenger to Mrs. Donelson, lately returned to the Cumberland, 
to send for Rachel, as he was convinced of her infidelity. He had 
often threatened to do this, but Rachel, conscious of her innocence, 
paid no heed to him and, even when her brother came, laughingly 
said: ‘Lewis is not in earnest—he could not live a day without 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLyY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 277 


me.’ Rising the next morning early, Robards rode off, saying to 
her: ‘The sooner you leave and the longer you stay the better.’ 
His mother and sisters, uniformly kind and considerate, regretted, 
though they did not attempt to prevent her departure. 

“One can easily imagine her shame and humiliation, as, turning 
from her husband’s home, she began her desolate wilderness ride. 
Sitting on a blanket behind her brother, they trotted along on 
horse-back through the woods, constantly dreading attacks from 
Indians or wild beasts. There was a midway house where travel- 
ers generally rested over-night; but, fearing curious question, she 
persuaded her brother not to stop there, so he kindled a fire, and 
tying near it, slept while she watched—too miserable for sleep. 
Robards, speedily repenting his unseemly action, came for her, 
bringing a letter from his mother, who seems to have really loved 
and admired her daughter-in-law, and to have been a generous, 
warm-hearted woman. 

“Rachel called her “Mother Robards,’ and always remembered 
gratefully her kindness. Had she consulted her own feelings she 
would probaly have refused to go with him, but Mrs. Donelson, than 
whom no Pope of Rome ever held more sacred and inviolable the 
marriage tie, urged her to do so. Mrs. Donelson’s descendants, 
now numbering many hundreds, are to be found in nearly every 
State of the Union, and, true to the traits inherited from her, are 
models of conjugal fidelity and domestic excellence, true, loving 
wives, kind, generous husbands. 

“Boarding with his mother on their return was a young attorney 
from the Cumberland—Andrew Jackson, whom she, having pre- 
viously described him as “uncouth and ignorant, but honest and 
true,” introduced to her son’s wife. Occupying a room near the 
young couple, Jackson unwillingly heard Lewis’s jealous accusa- 
tions and Rachel’s protestations of innocence. Robards, after his 
return from Tennessee, was at first kinder toward his wife, but 
soon redoubled his spiteful persecution, and his mother, thinking 
the presence of her relatives would exercise a restraining influence 
on him, advised him to take her to the Cumberland and advanced 
the money wherewith to buy land there. 

“Jackson, who had returned from Kentucky, was boarding with 
Mrs. Donelson, and occupying a room near Mr. and Mrs. Robards, 
again heard their incessant bickerings. No knight of the Holy 
Grail cherished holier reverence for women than Andrew Jackson, 
or felt himself more imperatively called to shield the persecuted and 
oppressed. Sincerely pitying her he remonstrated with Robards, 
saying, ‘Had God given me such a wife no tear should dim her 
beautiful eyes.’ Robards furiously resented his interference, and 
they had several stormy interviews, at one time exchanging harm- 
less shots, when Jackson found another boarding house. | 

“Driving to church one Sunday they—Mrs. Donelson, Captain 
and Mrs. Robards—met Jackson, and Mrs. Donelson having a 
vacant seat, invited him to take it. As he entered the wagon 


278 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Robards sprang out of it. Returning from church they found he 
had left, saying to a servant: ‘1! am going home. Jackson can 
take her and be d——..’__ He, however, wrote, ordering her to join 
him, and Mrs. Donelson advised her to obey and offered to accom- 
pany her; but Rachel, heretofore meek and yielding, resolutely re- 
fused to go, saying: ‘He drove me off once like a dog; now, if he 
cares for me, let him come here and give some sign of his regard.” 

“About this time, December, 1790, some friends planned a trip 
to Natchez, Miss., and asked her to join them. There being 
rumors of heavy river overflows below, and of dangerous Indian 
outbreaks, they invited Jackson and two other men to go along 
for protection. 

“Jackson returned to Nashville in May, and found in his office 
two Kentucky papers; one contained Robard’s application through 
his brother-in-law, Major Jouett (a member), to the Virginia Legis- 
lature for divorce from his wife, alleging that she had eloped and 
was co-habiting adulterously with one A. Jackson; the other paper 
announced that, the allegations having been proved; the divorce 
had been granted. 

“Stung to the quick, Jackson’s first impulse was to pursue 
Robards and at the pistol’s point make him retract his base, coward- 
ly charge, but, duly reflecting, he said: ‘Our first duty is to guard 
her sacred name from further gossip.’ Then, Sir Lancelot like, 
he went to Mrs. Donelson and asked permission to offer his hand 
and heart to her daughter. Her astonished query and his chival- 
ric reply were equally characteristic: ‘Mr. Jackson, would you 
sacrifice your life to save my poor child’s good name?’ “Ten 
thousand lives, madam, if I had them.’ 

“En route to and at Natchez, Rachel, haunted by the fear that. 
Robards was pursuing and would overtake and inflict some terrible 
punishment, was restless and miserable, often being found on her 
knees in tears. Learning of the divorce proceedings she cried: 
‘I expected him to kill me, but this is worse.’ Divorces, then rare 
and universally condemned, were considered the foulest stigma 
possible to cast upon a wife, and in no circle was a divorced woman 
persona grata. Like the wounded heart which turns in despair 
from the purling brook and tempting shade, she shrank from pity 
and sympathy and paid no heed to Jackson’s suit; but there is 
nothing so irresistible as earnestness, and he was terribly in earnest. 
They were married at Natchez by a Catholic priest in July, 1791, 
and spent several weeks in a cabin near Bayou Pierre. Returning 
to the Cumberland they occupied a cabin built by him on some 
newly purchased land, and in poverty and obscurity began that 
wedded life never darkened by a suspicion or reproach, lighted by 
love and sympathy and crowned with life’s choicest blessings. Her 
prospects as his wife were far inferior to those of the rich auto- 
cratic Kentuckian. ‘The turn in Jackson’s fortune leading so rapid- 
ly to wealth and power came only fifteen years before her death, 
when age and infirmity rendered them more embarassing than de- 
sirable. : 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 279 


“Vivacious, high-spirited, witty and tactful, she was of medium 
height, beautifully molded form, lustrous black eyes, dark, glossy 
hair, full red lips, brunette complexion, though of brilliant color- 
ing, a sweet oval face rippling with smiles and dimples and bright 
with intelligence—just the style of beauty irresistible to men of 
Jackson’s type. ‘Tall, angular, reddish bristling hair, face badly 
freckled and pockmarked, he was awkward and constrained, un- 
attractive in person and repulsive in manner. His marriage to 
Colonel Donelson’s daughter, though dictated by chivalric motives, 
was the first of the lucky steps—something like Napoleon’s to 
Josephine—that insured his marvelous future, securing the support 
of a powerful clannish family and admittance to a circle not access- 
ible to all. 

“Mrs. Jackson’s brothers and brothers-in-law were prosperous, 
influential men. ‘Their name to a note gave it gold value; their 
indorsement of a man marked him as trustworthy. To Jackson 
their support was invaluable—time, money, influence being given 
without stint. Many will befriend a man poor and obscure; but 
let him rise above them, and they stand aloof, marvel at his luck, 
sneer at his pretensions. Not so with Jackson and the Donelsons. 
Friends and allies when needed, they were loyal to life’s end. 

“In October, 1793, Judge Overton visited Kentucky, and re- 
turning, informed them that the divorce applied for by Robards in 
1791 had just been granted. Jackson immediately obtained a 
license, and, in the presence of a large assembly, had the marriage 
ceremony again performed. They had lived together as man and 
wife over two years before she was legally free; but, believing the 
divorce granted when published in the Kentucky papers, they ex- 
onerated themselves from blame or guilt, and the subject would 
never have been publicly discussed had not partisan malice seized 
it to wound one otherwise invulnerable to spite and jealousy. 
Nobody blamed her, but many believed that Jackson, being a law- 
yer, should have convinced himself of the legality of the proceed- 
ings before asking her to become his wife. But he was really not 
a lawyer in the technical sense of the term, and so wasted no time 
on abstruse legal points, and probably never investigated divorce 
laws. When in his practice he needed authorities, he hunted them 
up and used them. Roused from sleep by hissing flames, and find- 
ing the roof over our heads falling in, we seek the first exit regard- 
less of effect or consequences; and they, suddenly confronting pub- 
lic contumely and pursued by malevolent hate, accepted the 
relief apparently offered by personal safety and religious duty; and 
if ever a marriage illustrated the maxim ‘Matches are made in 
heaven,’ it was the marriage of Andrew Jackson to Rachel Ro- 
bards. Hear his testimony: ‘We lived togather, happy husband, 
loving wife, for nearly forty years; in all those years, whenever I 
entered my home it seemed hallowed by a divine presence. I never 
heard her say a word that could sully an angel’s lips, or knew her 
to commit any act her Maker could have condemed. What I have 


280 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


accomplished I owe to her; had I always taken her advice, deeds I 
now regret would never have been committed. She made earth a 
paradise for me; without her there could be no heaven.’ Could 
tongues of angels or archangels pronounce a more touching eulogy? 
Only the smiles of God could add brightness to a memory so lum- 
inous with love and content. 

‘Their affairs prospered; riches, public honors, domestic happi- 
ness crowned their labors. They built and occupied Hunter’s Hill, 
a two-story brick house overlooking Cumberland River, and in it in- 
augerated that baronial style of living never abandoned. Here, 
about 1797, occured the marriage of her brother Samuel (her com- 
panion on her wilderness ride) to General Daniel Smith’s only 
daughter, with whom he had a few hours before eloped. To Jack- 
son home had a peculiar significance. His childish recollections 
were of humilfating dependence and galling discomfort, his poor 
mother performing household drudgery in return for the niggardly 
maintenance of herself and children. He once said he never re- 
membered receiving a gift as a child, and that, after his mother’s 
death, no kind, encouraging words ever greeted hisear. Having no 
blood relations, none he cared to claim, he adopted his wife’s family, 
and lavished on her nephews and nieces the care and tenderness 
his generous heart could not repress. Kind and considerate to 

dependents and inferiors, to be a member of his household seemed 
to furnish an undeniable claim on his bounty and protection; and 
probably, could Sevier, Clay, Nick Biddle, Poindexter, or any one 
of that long list referred to by him so often and so grandiloquently 
as ‘my enemies’ have slept beneath his roof or broken bread at 
his table, some picturesque historic episodes, if described at all, 
would have received different coloring. 

“In early married life, when desire for offspring was natural, 
a sister-in-law, bringing her baby, came to spend the day. The 
ladies sat chattering while Jackson played with the baby under the 
trees, now stroking its curls, now kissing its hands and feet, now 
delighting it with that never-failing source of infantile ectasy, “This 
little pig went to market; this little pig stayed at home; this little 
pig went squeak, squeak!’” Mrs. Jackson, watching them greedi- 
ly, burst into tears, sobbing: ‘Oh, husband! how I wish we had 
a child! Returning the baby gently to its mother, he embraced 
her, saying tenderly: ‘Darling, God knows what to give, what to 
withhold; let’s not murmur against Him.’ Shortly before her 
death, she referred to this scene, adding: ‘He would have given 
his life for a child; but, knowing how disappointed I was at never 
being a mother, he, pitying me, tried to console me by saying: 
‘God denies us offspring that we may help those who have large 
families and no means to support them.’ Once, returning from a 
child’s funeral, the bereaved mother’s frantic grief almost unman- 
ning us, he said: ‘Your heart, my love, will never be pierced by 
that cruel knife.’ 

‘“ An excellent housekeeper, taking great pride in all housewifely 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


From engraving by Sartain of J. R. Landin’ 


S$ paint 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 281 


accomplishments—sewing, pickling, preserving, gardening—she 
managed home affairs during his long absences as Congressman, 
Senator, Judge, Attorney, Military Commander—farm, store, even 
race-track showing a master-hand’s careful supervision. A gentle, 
affectionate mistress, her slaves—many of them, like Abraham’s, 
born and reared in the family, tenacious of its customs and in- 
stincts, loyal to its traditions and memories—almost worshipped 
her. 

“In 1804, a man to whom Jackson had made large land sales, 
accepting in payment notes used to buy goods in Philadelphia, 
failed and, forced to validate these notes, he was obliged to sell 
Hunter’s Hill and other property. When his wife learned his em- 
barrassment, she said, cheerfully: ‘I knew something was wrong, 
and am relieved that it’s only about money.’ Jackson explained 
to her that some of the property involved being hers by inheritance 
could not be rightfully sacrificed; but she nobly said: ‘Your debts 
are mine, your troubles mine; together we can easily bear hard- 
ships and privations.’ They removed toa frame house (still stand- 
ing) on the Hermitage tract, using adjoining cabins as guest rooms; 
and there, as at Hunter’s Hill, their home was the family rallying 
point—the centre of a generous hospitality, shared alike by the 
rich and distinguished, the poor and unfortunate. She had the 
art of making everybody feel at home, instinctively divined people’s 
sore points and pet pretensions, gracefully avoiding the former and 
tactfully exploiting the latter. 


PART II. 
RACHEL DONELSON JACKSON. 


“Among the guests of the Jacksons while they lived in the frame 
house in the Hermitage grounds was Aaron Burr, who, after his 
duel with Hamilton, came South, having previously written Jack- 
son relative to the construction of flat boats for the transportation 
of troops and provisions to the Wachita River, where he proposed 
establishing a settlement. He arrived in May, 1805, remained a 
while and rettirned in December, and probably no visitor ever en- 
tertained by Jackson so potently influenced his opinions and shaped 
his future course. To impressions received from Burr may be 
ascribed his distrust and aversion, never overcome, to Jefferson, his 
antipathy to Hamilton’s financial schemes, to the National Bank, 
to New England cant and fanticism; his predilection for Van 
Buren and approval of New York political methods. History has 
emphasized Burr’s magnetic personality, and no two people ever 
yielded more readily to its fascination than Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. 
They talked, on the night he spent with them, into the wee sma’ 
hours, he delighting Jackson with inside pictures of national politics 
and politicians and charming Mrs. Jackson with tender allusions to 
his dead wife, and bright anecdotes of his beautiful young daughter 
whom he promised to bring to see her while visiting Blannerhesset 
Island, and whom he begged her to remember in her prayers. 


282 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE History 


“Posterity has reached no decision as to Burr’s real aims and 
ambitions, though it is conceded that, dazzled by Napoleon’s suc- 
cess, he hoped, in imitation of him, to found a Western empire, 
including Mexico and Texas. This, though impracticable, was 
possible, and did not necessarily imply treason to the Federal Govern 
ment. While in Nashville he expressed the opinion that Jackson, 
the most forceful, prominent man in the West, would be the first 
Westerner elected President of the United States, and then and 
there nominated him. After Burr’s departure Jackson received 
some anonimous letters accusing Burr of treasonable designs and 
of trying to implicate himinthem. Heat once said ‘the contracts 
agreed upon must be fulfilled, but no new ones considered until all 
suspicion is removed, for I have no sympathy with treason or trait- 
ors! Then came the collapse of the expedition—Burr’s arrest, 
trial and nominal acquittal at Richmond. Insisting that no man of 
his affectionate nature could be a traitor, Mrs. Jackson urged her 
husband to attend the trial and befriend him, and it was while pre- 
paring his testimony as a witness in that trial that Jackson began 
that thorough and exhaustive study of constitutional law which 
made him so familar with the provisions and limitations of the 
Constitution and enabled him to contend so successfully in after 
years with Congress and the courts. When Burr’s daughter was 
lost, supposedly in a storm at sea, Mrs. Jackson wrote him, saying: 

‘Let me, who have no daughter, weep with you in your great 
SOrTOW.’ 

“It was also while living in that little frame house that the most 
deplored event of Jackson’s life—the Dickinson duel—occurred. He 
had a store at Clover Bottom (three miles distant) to which he 
daily rode to and fro, and in the valley below, where Colonel Don- 
elson planted Tennessee’s first corn and cotton patch, he had a 
track noted as the scene of many exciting races. In December, 
1805, a race planned between Jackson’s horse Truxton, and Plow- 
boy, owned by Captain Erwin, came off. Charles Dickinson, 
Erwin’s son-in-law, bet heavily on Plowboy, and seeing Truxton 
forge ahead, screamed, though Mrs. Jackson sat near: ‘His horse 
is gaining, an will win the stake, just as he ran off with and kept 
another man’s wife!” 

“It was said and believed that a political clique, alarmed at 
Jackson’s immense popularity, saw the necessity of getting rid of 
him, and to accomplish this, prompted Dickinson to pick a quarrel 
by this and other insulting remarks, sure to be repeated. Dickinson 
remembered that in the Sevier-Jackson feud the unforgivable, only 
to-be-wiped-out-with-blood words were, ‘ I know of no great service 
rendered by Jackson unless it be running off to Natchez with 
Robard’s wife.’ Dickinson was considered the best shot in the 
world, while Jackson, known to be a poor marksman, was singularly 
averse, notwithstanding his numerous frays, to personal encounters. 
A challenge was sent and accepted, date and place being named for 
the meeting. Mrs. Jackson, knowing that Dickinson’s young wife 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 283 


was with child, implored her husband earnestly to arrange the 
difficulty if possible. Kissing him good-by as he rode off with his 
second, Judge Overton, she said: ‘Forget his remarks about me, 
think only of his wife and babe, and if consistent with honor spare 
him.’ Awaiting his return and noting his pallor and blood- 
stained clothes, she screamed: ‘You are wounded! ‘Yes, oniy 
_ slightly, but Dickinson will insult no more innocent women;’ then, 
remarking her look of dismay, he added: ‘I promised you to spare 
and meant to keep my promise. On the road I saw signs of his 
skill—hairs cut in two, small circles on trees and fences black with 
shot, then heard his messages, “Tell Jackson I will snap his life’s 
threads like that hair, will pepper his craven breast with lead like 
that disk! Even when we took our places on the ground and 
waited for the seconds to give the word, I still intended to fire in 
the air, but when I felt his bullet plowing through my body and 
heard him shriek, ‘Great God, have I missed the d——d 
scroundrel,hate of me overpowering even death’s agony, the demon 
in meawoke. I firedand he fell.’ Mrs. Jackson, almost fainting, fell 
on her knees, praying: ‘Oh, God have pity on the poor wife, pity 
on the babe in her womb.’ Years afterward, Jackson said: 
‘There never lived a woman in whom the mother instinct so pre- 
dominated, she would have gathered in her pitying arms every 
afflicted being. Why, she even wept and prayed for Dickinson’s 
wife and child.’ 

‘In 1809, they adopted a twin son born to Mrs. Jackson’s 
brother, Severn Donelson, named him Andrew Jackson, reared 
him tenderly, and bequeathed him their large estate. Naturally 
religious and a devout Bible reader, Mrs. Jackson, under the teach- , 
ings of Parson Blackburn, joined the Presbyterian Church. Wish- 
in to make her a present, Jackson asked what she would prefer. 
‘A church near-by where I can worship God regularly,’ was the 
ready reply. The little brick church, now the object of such curi- 
ous interest, and the scene of many memorable services, was the 
result of that wish. Without steeple or belfry, nave or chancel, 
it looks more like a plain farmhouse than a church. It was there 
that General Jackson made his first profession of faith and 
took his first communion. Mrs. Jackson’s family, the Donelsons, 
still worship there and keep it in repair. 

‘When war was declared against Great Britian in 1812, Jack- 
son, then in command of Tennessee militia, offered his services to 
the Government; and, they being accepted, he headed that South- 
ern expedition which, though it accomplished no great public bene- 
fit, brought into prominence his great executive ability and superior 
military qualifications. It was in that expedition that he acquired 
the familiar soubriquet of ‘Old Hickory,’ and laid the foundation 
of that all-embracing popularity never before or since equaled by 
an American, and which today, over fifty years after his death, is 
still strong. 

“One bright October morning, 1813, they attended service to- 


284 ANDREW JACKSON AND EHaRLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


gether in the little brick church, after which, embracing her tenderly, 
he, though still prostrated by Benton’s bullet, hardly able to mount 
his horse, but determined to check Creek depredations and avenge 
Fort Mims, started on that campaign from which, victorious at 
Tallustatchie, Talladega, Emuckfaw, Pensacola, Mobile, New 
Orleans, he returned the most famous, most courted, most idolized 
man in the world, hailed by his own nation as its deliverer, by all 
as the conquering hero. The country, depressed and humiliated 
by the disasters attending the Northern and Eastern commands, 
by the capture and burning of Washington, and dreading a suc- 
cessful British invasion in the South, hailed the news from 
New Orleans with extravagant demonstrations of rejoicing. People 
said: ‘Jackson seals and perpetuates the liberty and independence 
gained by Washington and Bunker Hill receives its glorious ful- 
fillment at Charleston.’ Mrs. Jackson, urged to accompany the 
delegation that went to meet him on his return to Nashville, de- 
clined, saying: ‘I prefer waiting for him at home;’ and probably 
her simple greeting, ‘I am so thankful to have you back again!’ 
outweighed the many laudatory addresses he received. Hence- 
forth exchanging the happy, peaceful quiet of backwoods farmers 
for glamour and turmoil of public notoriety, they lived amid cere- 
monial pomp and parade. Their home became the Western Mecca, 
was always crowded with visitors and alive with excitement. 
Finding their residence (the little frame house) unsuited to new 
conditions, they built a large, handsome home, christening it the 
Hermitage, and a hermitage it proved—a refuge from all care and 
worry; a haven whence, departing for the spirit land, they entered 
heaven as from an outer chamber. Then came the Presidential 
campaigns of ’24 and ’28, when the flood-gates of partisan virulence 
stood wide open and torrents of slanderous falsehoods deluged the 
country. Unable to check his great popularity or deny his gallant 
public service, his opponents sought to mortify and belittle him 
by besmirching his wife’s character. Charges ad nauseam were 
rung on ‘the marriage before divorce,’ caricatures of her person 
and manners were scattered broadcast, processions singing bur- 
lesques aimed at her paraded the streets. This vituperation, how- 
ever, did him no harm. Brave men honor a man for fidelity to an 
injured wife. Yet mud-flinging generally leaves some stain, and 
falsehoods, often repeated and widely circulated, finally gain 
credence. Impressions still prevailing of Jackson’s ignorance (bad 
spelling and bad grammar) and of his wife’s unrefinement may be 
traced to the malice of partisan enemies in those crucial years. 


“Lately Mr. Richardson, by authority of Congress, has complied 
and published the records of Presidential administrations, an ex- 
amination of which shows Jackson to have been the equal in spell- 
ing, rhetoric and general scholarship of any contemporary—to 
have been an earnest student of state matters and thoroughly con- 
versant with constitutional law and governmental policy. At a 
dinner party in London in 1850, at which my father (then United 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 285 


States Minister to Prussia) and the Duke of Wellington were 
guests, the latter, speaking of American affairs, said: ‘I know you 
Americans admit no comparison with Washington; but, in my 
opinion Jackson is the greatest man your Republic has produced. 
His course in his Indian campaigns was remarkable, his general- 
ship at New Orleans worthy of Hannibal or Caesar; and his policy 
as President, though arbitrary and despotic, was both wise and 
patriotic. I predict that the time will come when the absence of 
a man of his nerve and self-confidence in the executive office will 
result in a great national disaster.’ Did his prophetic eye foresee 
the days in ‘61, when people, seeing Buchanan blanch and quail 
before the coming storm, cried: ‘Oh, for twenty-four hours of 
Jackson in the White House!’ 


“There was great political excitement in Tennessee in the sum- 
mer of 1844, even school-children becoming violent partisans. I, 
then in the preparatory department of the Nashville Female 
Academy, was the Democratic champion, Lou being the 
Whig. After school we met in the hall to discuss public questions. 
One Thursday‘afternoon we had an angry debate, Lou quoting 
Clay, I Jackson, closing my argument with the words then familiar: 
‘Westward the star of empire wends its way.’ Suddenly Lou 
sprang up, arms akimbo, head erect, danced up and down the plat- 
form, singing to jig tune: “The girl kicked the kiver off and I kotcht 
cold.’ ‘The girls, giggling at first, said: ‘Don’t, Lou; that’s un- 
fair.’ The meeting broke up, Lou’s friends going with her, mine 
with me. ‘Then one of them told me that it was said that, at a 
grand ball given in New Orleans to General and Mrs. Jackson, she 
said to a lady inquiring kindly about her health: ‘Poorly, thank 
God. To tell the truth, the girl kicked the kiver off and I kotcht 
cold!—that the Whigs, using these words as the chorus to a scurril- 
ous song, had chanted them all over the United States during his 
Presidential campaigns. Of course I was indignant and deeply 
hurt. Aunt Jackson died before my birth, but I had been taught 
to love and honor her memory, revering her name as do good Catho- 
lics the Holy Virgin’s. I generally went home Friday (Tulip Grove, 
twelve miles from Nashville), returning Monday, and calling Satur- 
day at the Hermitage to tell Uncle Jackson the week’s school 
incidents, seemingly much relished by him. I found him propped 
up in an easy chair near his wife’s tomb, where, when the weather 
and his strength permitted, he always went after breakfast to 
smoke and meditate. Greeting me affectionately, he said, point- 
ing to the birds overhead and the flower-beds near: ‘In life she loved 
birds and flowers, and I enjoy seeing them near her grave.’ He 
was then very feeble—seldom able to leave his bed; and his snow- 
hair, palled, pain-drawn features, bent, trembling form, warned 
his friends that the empty grave near his wife’s would soon be 
tenanted. I had intended to mention and ask the verity of the 
occurrence alluded to at the debate, but, to save my life, I could 
not repeat those revolting words at that sacred spot, where the very 


286 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


air seemed redolent with the fragrance of deathless love. I, how- 
ever, visited and questioned my grandmother, who lived near, and 
who was Aunt Jackson’s sister-in-law and most intimate friend. 

‘False, cruel and wicked,’ she said, emphatically. ‘Sister 
Jackson was not only well-informed, but elegant and dignified— 
far superior to her detractors. Her father stood well, and moved 
in the best Virginia society. She visited with him, when a little 
girl, both Monticello and Mount Vernon, and had interesting 
reminiscences of Colonial customs and usages, often describing to 
us the appearence, manners and customs of the grand dames then 
prominent in aristocratic circles. No woman in the Western 
country had traveled so extensively or better used the opportunities 
for self-improvement afforded by travel and association with cultur- 
ed people. On her trips with General Jackson to New Orleans, 
Mobile, Pensacola, Washington, Cincinnati and other cities, she 
was the honored guest, the recipient of the most distinguished court- 
esies and attentions. They entertained handsomely and lavishly at 
the Hermitage, Louis Philippe, Lafayette, Aaron Burr, and many 
distinguished men and women enjoying their hospitality, and test- 
ifying by word and letter to her grace as a hostess and charm as a 
woman. Generous and kind-hearted, none appealed to her in vain 
for comfort, advice or pecuniary aid, bestowed as of acceptance 
were the favor, and she, the donor, the one obliged. 


LETTERS OF ANDREW JACKSON TO HIS WIFE 
AND ONE TO HIS SON. 


New Port, March 22nd, 1803. 
“My Love: 

“T am this far on my way to Knoxville from Jonesborough and 
being about to part with Colo. Christmas, who has promised to 
call and deliver some garden seeds and this letter to you, I write 
fully impressed with a belief that the letter and garden seeds will 
be handed you. 

‘These are a variety of seeds and as large quantities of each as 
I could obtain. If there should be any to spare of any kind sent 
I have said to Colo. Christmas that you would divide with him. 

“On the 15th instant in Jonesborough Mr. Rawlings stable 
was set on fire. It and two more stables were burnt down and 
four horses, with great exertions and the calmness of the night, and 
other buildings were saved. During this distressing scene I was a 
great deal exposed, having nothing on but a shirt. I have caught 
a very bad cold which settled on my lungs, occassioned a bad cough 
and painin my breast. It was with the utmost exertion I saved my 
horse from the flames—not until I made the third attempt before 
I could force him into the passage. You may easily judge the 
anxiety by seeing the poor animals in danger. I shall write you 
from Knoxville, and would write you more fully, but the Colo. 
has promised to call, from whom you can receive all the information 
that I could give. I wish you to say to Mr. Gowery that I wish 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 287 


my cotton planted between the 15th and 25th of April. I hope the 
apple trees have been safely brought and planted. I have been 
afraid they received injury from frost, from the very severe frost 
that fell about that time. 

“T hope it has been in his power to make your time more agree- 
able with the servants. I also hope that he has brought Aston to 
a perfect state of obedience. I have not heard a single syllable 
from you since I left home. I hope you have enjoyed and are now 
enjoying health, and may health and happiness surround you un- 
til I have the pleasure of seeing you is the sincere wish of your 
affectionate Husband. 

“‘Andrew Jackson. 
“Mrs. Rachel Jackson.”’ 


JACKSON TO HIS WIFE AND SON. 


“Fort Jackson, July 16th 1814. 
“Headquarters, 
“7th M. District. 
“My Love: 

“T reached this place on the 10th instant, found the Indians 
through whom we passed apparently friendly—Rumor states, that 
the followers of the Prophet, Nelieshaja, or Frances, and the leader 
of the war party McQueen—has gone to Pensacola with their found- 
ders, and have been rec’d. with great attention by the Spanish 
Governors, and has been furnished with arms and ammunition by 
the British. I have taken the best means in my power to ascer- 
tain the truth of their reports in the shortest time. 

“Should not the hostile attitude of my war party, supported 
by British Troops, detain me in the nation, I shall be able to leave 
this on the 10th proximo, for Tennessee. The Chiefs are to. meet 
me here on the first of next month and the convention with them 
cannot take up more time than five days, in five more I can make 
the necessary engagements for the support and defense of the chain 
of garrisons, from Georgia to the Alabama Heights. This being 
done, unless war rages, I shall immediately set out for Nashville. 
I hope my brown filley and the sorrell horse that I was compelled 
to leave on the way, has reached home. I have to ask you, my love, 
to charge the overseer to have them in good order when I return. 
I am induced to believe this is a healthy country, the soldiers here 
are unusually healthy and my escort and Lt. Donelson all enjoy 
health. You can inform Mrs. Caffery that her son is well. 

“With my prayers for your health, and that of my little Andrew, 
and the compliments to all friends, I am with sincere respect your 

“Affectionate Husband, 
SEES. “Andrew Jackson. 

“It is enough to make humanity shudder to see the distressed 
situation of the Indians. Eight thousand are kept alive, being fed 
by the government daily—and I fear, should they be supported by 
foreign aid, we will have half of the men we are feeding to keep 
from starvation to fight. 


288 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


‘The bearer of this letter is Lt. Colonel Carson, who I beg leave 
to introduce to your acquaintance, and polite attention—the Col., 
if he calls, can give you a full account of the prospects here. Adieu 
AL 


JACKSON TO HIS WIFE. 


“HEADQUARTERS 7TH M DISTRICT. 


“Mobile, October 20th, 1814. 
“My Love— 

“T had the pleasure of receiving yours of Sept. 18th last night 
by Capt. Deadrick. It was handed him by Cap. J. Donelson, who 
had halted at Fort Stephens to refresh his horses and men, the 
patriotism displayed by the connection reflects on them great 
honor, and I hope a greatful country will reward them. ‘The ex- 
ample set by the western part of State of disinterested patriotism, 
if followed by our sister States, will soon put an end to the war, 
an end to the war, and restore the blessings of peace to our country, 
on an honorable and durable basis. I recd. a letter from Genl. 
Coffee last night of the 14th instant, all well, he will be with me in 
afew days. Isent Billey and Jackey with an answer to him today, 
I hope they will meet him tomorrow. Be assured that I will watch 
over these two youths with all the care of a father, and every 
attention shall be paid to them that my situation will permit. 

“T am happy to hear that Mr. Fields is doing well. If he is 
slow he is honest, and in honesty there is safety; he will be faithful 
in the— *, he will be faithful elsewhere, and better to keep him 
than risque a new one with the recent recollection of Nalley boy 
on our minds. I wrote you last mail, which will have advised you 
of the hopes and prospects I have of sending for and meeting you, 
I trust in the smiles of heaven and the justice of our cause, added 
to the valour of my troops for success, through this means to place 
this section of the union in safety. The moment that is done I 
shall write and get some faithful friend to bring you and my sweet 
little Andrew to me. How is Syncoga? If he is a heathen he is 
an orphan, and I know you will extend a motherly care over him. 

‘““My health is perfectly restored altho I am weak, but a little 
active life will soon restore my strength. I shall write you often, 
altho you must reflect if a mail passes and you do not receive a 
letter from me, that it is owing to the press of business. Iam truly 
sorry to hear that your ancle is again troublesome. I hope it may 
be restored shortly to health. You must not walk much on it until 
itis well. With compliments to all friends I reciprocate my ardent 
prayers for your health, and believe me to be your affectionate 
Husband. 

“Andrew Jackson. 


““P, S.—Tell my son God bless and keep him for his sweet papa* 
“Mrs. R. Jackson. 


, ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 289 


‘Huntsville, Janry. 27th, 1818. 
“My Love: 

“T reached the Bluff on yesterday nine o’clock A. M. after the 
most fatiguing ride I ever experienced, occasioned by unusual 
muddy roads. 

“T found our business only in a tolerable condition, however, 
I made such engagements from which I trust things will progress 
well. 

“T left there this morning at 4 o’clock and reached here a little 
in the night, such was the state of the roads, until we got clear of 
the land, that we have been compelled to get out every morn- 
ing before day. I leave here early tomorrow morning. I fortunately 
met General Coffee here. I have left you this journey with 
greater regret than I have ever done. I hope that that God 
who controls the destinies of nations and decrees to all things, will 
permit me to execute the duty assigned me and return to you ina 
short time. Kiss the two little Andrews for me and accept a 
tender of my best wishes and sincere affection. With my prayers 
for your preservation and happiness. I shall write you from Geor- 
gia, adieu. “Andrew Jackson. 
“Mrs. Rachel Jackson. 

“P. S. Give my love to Jane and Mrs. Caffery and all friends. 


JACKSON TO HIS WIFE. 


“Staunton, Novbr 28th, 1823. 
“My Love— 

“TI reached here at 11 o’clock last night in the mail stage in my 
usual health. I rest here to-day for my friend Major Eaton who 
I left yesterday morning, he is on horse back, and will take the 
stage with me here. . . . If we can procure private Hacks we will go 
on to-morrow morning, if not we will leave on Sunday in the mail 
stage for Fredricksburg, where we will take the Steam Boat; and 
two days travel will now take us to the steam boat, and in 14 hours 
after we will reach the city. I can now say that my fatigue of the 
journey is nearly over, we have been blessed with fine weather on 
our journey, we have experienced but one inclement day, to avoid 
which I took the stage and Major Eaton came on horse back. 

“TI have been greeted by the people wherever I have halted. 
To avoid much of this was one reason why I took the stage, and 
even then in many places, on the way side were collections who 
hailed and stopped the stages, to shake me by the hand. This 
through Virginia I did not calculate on. Altho tiresome and 
troublesome still it is gratifying to find that I have triumphed over 
the machination of my enemies, and still possess the confidence of 
the people. Were you only with me I could be satisfied. But 
should providence once more permit us to meet, I am solemnly re- 
solved with permission of Heaven never to separate, or be separated 
from you in this world. Present me to Capt. A. J. Donelson, say 


19 


290 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsTORY | 


to him I will write him so soon as I reach the city. Say to my son 
and my little ward Hutchings that I expect them to be obedient 
and attentive to you, bless them for me, and accept my prayers for 
your health and happiness until I return, and believe me to be your 
affectionate Husband, “Andrew Jackson.”’ 


JACKSON TO HIS WIFE. 


“Washington, April 2nd, 1824. 
“My dear Wife: 

““Major Eaton on yesterday showed me your letter to him which 
gave me much pleasure to be informed of your continued good 
health, may it continue. 

“TI cannot yet say when I will be able to leave this, or when Con- 
gress may rise, I hope I will be able to give this information in all 
next week. The Tariff bill is still under discussion and until that 
is disposed of, no idea can be formed when Congress will rise. 

‘““My route when I leave here will be that which will afford me 
the greatest despatch combined with ease; my anxiety to see you 
is superior to all other considerations. I therefore will not pass 
through Philadelphia; as I know it would detain me some days. 

‘‘My health is improving altho we experience much variable 
weather and is now very cold for the season; I am obliged to take 
great care, and never go out in the evenings. 

‘‘Say to Capt. A. J. Donelson I have nothing new to write him; 
the papers will give him all the news on political subjects that I 
possess; and as yet I have nothing to write Colo. Butler: present 
me to them both and all our relations; say to the Andrews and 
Syncoga I hope to be home soon when I shall expect to find they 
all have much improved. My love to the young ladies who may be 
with you; and accept the prayers of your affectionate Husband for 
your preservation, and health until his return. Yrs. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Mrs. Rachel Jackson.”’ 


JACKSON TO HIS WIFE. 
Washington City. 
Wednesday Evening, May 19th, 1824. 
“My dear Wife— 

“The Tariff Bill that has been under discussion so long and 
which has retarded all other business, has this day finally passed 
both houses of Congress. I am now detained only by Genl Call; 
I hope tomorrow to get his Bills through the Senate and leave here 
on Sunday morning next. I would leave here tomorrow morning, 
but one of the Bills is to authorize the Prsident of the U States to 
order that the Florida lands shall be surveyed, under which I hope 
to have Colo. Butler appointed survayor-Genl., and I do not wish, 
as I have staid so long, to leave here before I see that done, as there 
are but little relience here to be placed in promises. I have another 


RACHEL DONELSON JACKSON, 1767-1828. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 291 


reason for delay. The act for paying your father and other com- 
missioners under Georgia was lost by intrigue and inattention of 
its friends in the House of Representatives; Major Eaton intro- 
duced a Bill in the Senate which passed unamimously, and is now 
before that House; and I hope it will be acted on to-morrow and on 
Sunday I hope to leave here by the way of Wheeling, Louisville 
and home. But my Love, asit isso uncertain at what day I could 
reach Louisville and I might miss you on the way, and being so 
anxious to see you, and reach home, that I think it will be best for 
you not to set out to meet me. If I get a Steam Boat at Wheeling 
when I arrive there, I shall, I hope, reach you shortly after you 
receive this letter. Give my respects to the Andrews, and all 
friends, and may God take you, and them in his holy keeping until 
I unite with you; is the prayer of your affectionate husband. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Mrs. Rachel Jackson. 

“P. S. We passed a Joint Resolution today for Congress to 
rise on the 27th of this month. I feel happy to believe that I can 
get away from this place in a few days. My anxiety is great, and 
I am truly wearied, nothing but imperious necessity has detained 
me; all the wealth of the Indies could not. 

So AY aay 


ANDREW JACKSON TO HIS SON. 


Novbr. 2nd, 1835. 
“My dear Andrew: 

“T enclose you a letter from your dear Sarah, and have only 
time to say that our dear little ones are in good health, improving 
every day, the son with tironic sway governs all. 

“As you have set the 15th instant to leave the Hermitage you 
need not expect any more letters from us unless we should be ad- 
vised by you that you will be detained longer. With my prayers 
for your health and speedy return, referring you to my former letters 
I remain yr affectionate father 

“Andrew Jackson. 
““A. Jackson, Esq., Jun.” 


292 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


CHAPTER 12. 


Jackson’s Cabinets, State Papers First Inaugural 
Address, Bank Veto, Second Inaugural Address, 
Message on Texas and Mexico. 


Lrlerlsrelsrelseluste eee 


JACKSON’S CABINETS. 
Secretary of State: 
Martin Van Buren, New York, March 6, 1829. 
Edward Livingstone, Louisiana, May 24, 1831. 
Louis McLane, Delaware, May 29, 1833. 
John Forsyth, Georgia, June 27, 1834. 


Secretary of Treasury: 


Samuel D. Ingham, Bédneteeee March 6, 1829 

Louis McLane, Delaware, August 8, 1831. 

William J. Duane, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1833. 

Roger B. Taney, Maryland, September 23, 1833. 

Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, June 27, 1834. 
Secretary of War: 


John H. Eaton, Tennessee, March 9, 1829. 

Lewis Cass, Michigan, August 1, 1831. 
Secretary of Navy: 

John Branch, North Carolina, March 9, 1829. 

Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, May 23, 1831. 

Mahlon Dickerson, New Jersey, June 30, 1834. 
Attorney General: 

John M. Berrien, Georgia, March 9, 1829. 

Roger B. Taney, Maryland, July 20, 1831. 

Benjamin F. Butler, New York, November 15, 1833. 
Postmaster General: 

William T. Barry, Kentucky, March 9, 1829. 

Amos Kendall, Kentucky, May 1, 1835. 


JACKSON’S STATE PAPERS, 1829-1837. 


First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1829 
First Annual Message, December 8, 1829 
Veto Message, May 27, 1830 
Second Annual Message, December 6, 1830 
Message on Indian Affairs, February 22, 1831 
Third Annual Message, December 6, 1831 
Veto Message, Bank of the United States, . July 10, 1832 
Fourth Annual Message, December 4, 1832 


Message on the South Carolina Ordinance 
and Proclamation of Governor Haynes, January 16, 1833 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 293 


Anti-Nullification Proclamation, December 10, 1832 
Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1833 
Removal of the Public Deposits—Paper 

read to the Cabinet, September 18, 1833 
Fifth Annual Message, December 3, 1833 
Veto Message—Public Lands, December 4, 1833 
Protest on the Expuriging Resolution, April 15, 1834 
Sixth Annual Message, December 1, 1834 
Seventh Annual Message, December 7, 1835 
Message on Affairs with France, January 15, 1836 
Eighth Annual Message, December 5, 1836 
Message on Texas and Mexico, December 21, 1836 
Farewell Address, March 4, 1837 


JACKSON’S STATE PAPERS. 

Jackson’s State Papers include the twenty-one documents set 
out above, all of which but two were officially communicated 
to Congress. The two were the papers read to his Cabinet Sep- 
tember 18, 1833, on the Removal of the Deposits and his Fare- 
well Address, issued March 4, 1837, the day Van Buren was 
inaugurated as his successor. It was found inexpedient to include 
all these twenty-one communications in this volume in full, but we 
have reproduced in full his two Inaugural Addresses, the Veto of 
the Bank of the United States, the great Nullification Proclamation, 
the Message on Texas and Mexico, the Paper on the Removal of 
the Deposits, the Protest on the Expunging Resolution and his 
Farewell Address. These are the greatest. 

A study of these will, we believe, convince any student of Ameri- 
can State papers that Jackson’s rank among the very best of them 
all 


We believe also that they will convince the student that Jack- 
son’s enduring and bright fame will rest not on the Battle of New 
Orleans nor on his successful Indian campaigns, but upon the 
strength and power and statesmanship so abundantly shown in his 
communications and views throughout his civil life. His career in 
this respect is the exact reverse of that of General U. S. Grant. 
Gen Grant was one of the great Generals of history and he operated 
upon a vast scale and success followed him. As President of the 
United States he was out of place and a failure. 

Jackson was a successful General operating on a small scale, 
but as President he was one of our greatest, and in conception of 
patriotic duty, willingness to perform, and in comprehension of 
what his duty was, he was excelled by no character in our history. 

His limited military success gave him the opportunity by mak- 
ing him President to achieve things not before dreamed of. 


294 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


JACKSON’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
(March 4, 1829.) 


“FELLOW CITIZENS: About to undertake the arduous duties 
that I have been appointed to perform by the choice of the free 
people, I avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to 
express the gratitude which their confidence inspires and toacknowl- 
edge the accountability which my situation enjoins. While the 
magnitude of their interests convinces me that no thanks can be 
adequate to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes me that 
the best return I can make is the zealous dedication of my humble 
abilities to their service and their good. 

“As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve 
on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, 
to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to 
manage their revenue, to command their forces, and by communi-_ 
cation to the Legislature, to watch over and promote their interests 
generally. And the principles of action by which I shall endeavor 
to accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly 
to explain. 

“In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in 
view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, 
trusting hereby to discharge the functions of my office without 
transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my 
study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and hon- 
orable terms and in the adjustment of any differences that may 
exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation 
rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people. 

“In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to 
the rights of the respect for those sovereign members of our Union, 
taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to them- 
selves with those they have granted to the Confederacy. 

“The management of the public revenue—that searching op- 
eration in all governments—is among the most delecate and im- 
portant trusts in ours, and it will, of course, demand no inconsider- 
able share of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which 
it can be considered it would appear that advantage must result 
from the observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall 
aim at the more anxiously, both because it will facilitate the ex- 
tinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of 
which is incompatible with real independance, and because it will 
counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a 
profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to - 
engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable 
end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of 
Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the 
prompt accountability of public officers. 

“With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost 
with a view to revenue it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, 
caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was formed 


NICHOLAS BIDDLE. 


President of the Bank of the United States at the time of the Bank’s conflict with Andrew Jackson. From Na- 
tional Portrait Gallery. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 295 


requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and 
manufacturers should be equally favored, and that perhaps the 
only exception to this rule should consist in, the peculiar encourage- 
ment of any products of either of them that may be found essential 
to our national independence. ‘ 

“Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far 
as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal 
Government, are of high importance. 

“Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments 
in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establish- 
ment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience 
which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to civil 
power. ‘The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed 
in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the 
perservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the intro- 
ductior of progressive improvements in the discipline and science 
of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed 
by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention 
sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark 
of our defense is the national militia which in the present state of 
our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long 
as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and 
is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of 
person, and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it 
will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a 
patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial 
injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but 
a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can 
never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, there- 
fore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country, 
T shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power. 

“It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe towards 
the Indian Tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to 
give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and 
their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government 
and the feelings of our people. 

“The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the 
list of the Executive duties, in characters too legible to be-over- 
looked, the task of reform which will require particularly the cor- 
rection of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the 
Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, 
and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the 
rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power 
in unfaithful or incompetent hands. 

“In the performance of a task thus general delineated I shall 
endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in 
their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending 
for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity 
and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers. 


296 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“A difference, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will 
teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue 
left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the 
lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that re- 
formed our system. ‘The same difference induces me to hope for 
instructions and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citi- 
zens generally. Anda firm reliance on the goodness of that Power 
whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and 
has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages 
me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue tomake 
our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious 
benediction. 


JACKSON ’S VETO MESSAGE—BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 
(July 10, 1832.) 


‘“'0 THE SENATE: The bill ‘to modify and continue’ the act 
entitled ‘An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the 
United States’ was presented to me on the 4th July instant. Hay- 
ing considered it with that solemn regard to the principles of the 
Constitution which the day was calculated to inspire, and come to 
the conclusion that it ought not to become a law, I herewith return it 
to the Senate, in which it orginated, with my objections. 

“A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient 
for the Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this 
opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the 
power and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthor- 
ized by the Constitution, subversive of the rights of the states, and 
dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early 
period of my Administration to call the attention of Congress to the 
practicability of organizing an instution combining allits advantages 
and obviating these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act be- 
fore me I can perceive none of these modifications of the banks 
charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible 
with justice with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our 
country. 

“The present corporate body denominated the president, direc- 
tors and company of the bank of the United States, will have ex- 
isted at the time this act is intended to take effect twenty years. 
‘It enjoys an exclusive privilige of banking under the authority of 
the General Government, a monopoly of its favor and support, 
and, as a necessary consequence, almost a monopoly of the foreign 
and domestic exchange. The powers, priviliges, and favors be- 
stowed upon it in the original charter, by increasing the value of 
the stock far above its par value, operated as a gratuity of many 
millions to the stockholders. 

‘“‘An apology may be found for the failure to guard against 
these results, in the consideration that the effect of the origi- 
’ nal act of incorporation could not be certainly forseen at the 
time of its passage. The act before me proposes another gratuity 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 297 


to the holders of the same stocks, and in many cases, to the same 
men, of at least seven millions more. This donation finds no 
apology in any uncertainty as to the effect of the act. On all hands 
it is conceded that its passage will increase, at least twenty or thirty 
per cent more, the market price of the stock, subject to the pay- 
ment of the annuity of $200,000 per year secured by the act; thus 
adding, in a moment, one fourth to its par value. It is not our 
own citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our Government. 
More than eight million of the stock of this bank are held by foreign- 
ers. By this act, the American Republic proposes virtually to 
make them a present of some millions of dollars. For the grat- 
uities to foreigners,and to some of our own opulent citizens, the act 
secures no equivalent whatever. They are the certain gains of 
the present stockholders under the operation of this act, after mak- 
ing full allowance for the payment of the bonus. 

“Every monopoly, and all exclusive privileges, are granted at the 
expense of the public, which ought to receive a fair equivalent. 
The many millions which this act proposes to bestow on the stock- 
holders of the existing bank, must come directly or indirectly out . 
of the earnings of the American people. It is due to them, there- 
fore, if their Government sell monopolies and exclusive privileges, 
that they should at least exact for them as much as they are worth 
in open market. The value of the monopoly in this case may be 
correctly ascertained. The twenty-eight millions of stock would 
probably be at an advance of fifty per cent., and command in the 
market at least forty-two millions of dollars, subject to the pay- 
ment of the present bonus. The present value of the monopoly, 
therefore, is seventeen millions of dollars, and this act proposes to 
sell for three millions,payable in fifteen annual instalments of $200,- 
000 each. 

“Tt is not conceivable how the present stockholders can have 
any claim to the special favor of the Government. The- present 
corporation has enjoyed its monopoly during the period stipulated 
in the original contract. If we must have such a corporation, why 
should not the Government sell out the whole stock, and thus secure 
to the people the full market value of the privileges granted? Why 
should not Congress create and sell twenty-eight millions of stock 
incorporating the purchasers with all the powers and priv ileges 
secured in this act, and putting the premium upon the sales into 
the Treasury ? 

“But this act does not permit competitions in the purchase of 
this monopoly. It seems to be predicated on the erroneous idea 
that the present stockholders have a prescriptive right not only to 
the favor, but to the bounty of Government. It appears that more 
than a fourth part of the stock is held by foreigners, and the residue 
is held by a few hundred of our own citizens, chiefly of the richest 
class. For their benefit does this act exclude the whole American 
people from competition in the purchase of this monopoly and dis- 
pose of it for many millions less than it is worth? This seems the 


298 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


less excusable, because some of our citizens, not now stockholders, 
petitioned that the door of competition might be opened, and 
offered to take a charter on terms much more favorable to the 
Government and country. 

“But this proposition, although made by men whose aggregate 
wealth is believed to be equal to all the private stock in the exist- 
ing bank, has been set aside, and the bounty of our Government is 
proposed to be again bestowed on the few who have been fortunate 
enough to secure the stock, and at this moment wield the power of 
the existing instutition. I cannot perceive the justice or policy of 
this course. If our Government must sell monopolies, it would 
seem to be its duty to take nothing less than their full value; and 
if gratuities must be made in fifteen or twenty years, let them not 
be bestowed on the subjects of a foreign government, nor upon a 
designated and favored class of men in our own country. It is but 
justice and good policy, as far as the nature of the case will admit, 
to confine our favors to our own fellow-citizens, and let each in his 
turn enjoy an opportunity to profit by our bounty. In the bear- 
ings of the act before me, upon these points, I find ample reasons 
why it should not become a law. 

“It has been urged as an argument in favor of rechartering the 
present bank, that the calling in its loans will produce great em- 
barrassment and distress. The time allowed to close its concerns 
is ample; and if it has been well managed, its pressure will be light, 
and heavy only in case its management has been bad. UH, there- 
fore, it shall produce distress, the fault will be its own; and it would 
furnish a reason against renewing a power which has been so ob- 
viously abused. But will there ever be time when this reason will 
be less powerful? ‘To acknowledge its force, is to admit that the 
bank ought to be perpetual, and, as a consequence, the present 
stockholders, and those inheriting their rights as successors, be 
established a privileged order, clothed both with great political 
power, and enjoyment of immense pecuniary advantages, from their 
connection with the Government. 

‘The modifications of the existing charter, proposed by this act 
are not such, in my view, as make it consistent with the rights of 
States or the liberties of the people. The qualifications of the 
right of the bank to hold real estate, the limitation of its power to 
establish branches, and the power reserved to Congress to forbid 
the circulation of small notes, are restrictions comparatively of 
little value or importance. All the objectionable principles of the 
existing corporation, and most of its odious features, are retained 
without alleviation. 

‘The fourth section provides ‘that the notes or bills of the said 
corporation, although the same be on the faces thereof, respectively, 
made payable at one place only, shall, nevertheless, be received by 
the said corporation at the bank, or at any of the offices of discount 
and deposit thereof, if tendered in liquidation or payment of any 
balance or balances due to said corporation, or to such office of 
discount and deposit, from any other incorporated bank.’ ‘This 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 299 


provision secures to the State banks a legal privilege in the Bank of 
the United States, which is withheld from all private citizens. If 
a State bank in Philadelphia owe the Bank of the United States, 
and have notes issued by the St. Louis Branch, it can pay the debt 
with those notes; but if a merchant, mechanic, or other private 
citizen be in like circumstances, he cannot, by law, pay his debt with 
those notes; but must sell them at a discount, or send them to St. 
Louis to be cashed. ‘This boon conceded to the State banks, 
though not unjust in itself, is most odious; because it does not 
measure out equal justice to the high and the low, the rich and the 
poor. To the extent of its practical effect, it is a bond of union 
among the banking establishments of the nation erecting them 
into an interest separate from that of the people; and its necessary 
tendency is to unite the Bank of the United States and the State 
banks in any measure which may be thought conducive to their 
common interest. 

“The ninth section of the act recognizes principles of worse 
tendency than any provision of the present charter. 

“Tt enacts that ‘the cashier of the bank shall annually report 
to the Secretary of the Treasury the names of all stockholders who 
are not resident citizens of the United States; and, on the appli- 
cation of the Treasurer of any State, shall make out and transmit to 
such Treasurer a list of stockholders residing in, or citizens of 
such state, with the amount of stock owned by each;’ although 
this provision, taken in connection with a decision of the Supr2me 
Court surrenders, by its silence, the right of the States to tax the 
banking institutions created by this corporation, under the name of 
branches, throughout the Union, it is evidently intended to be con- 
strued as a concession of their right to tax that portion of the stock 
which may be held by their own citizens and residents. In this light, 
if the act becomes a law, it will be understood by the States, who 
will probably process to levy a tax equal to that paid by the stock 
of the banks incorporated by themselves. In some States that tax 
is now one percent., either on the capital or on the shares, and that 
may be assumed as the amount which all citizens or resident stock- 
holders would be taxed under the operation of this act. As it is 
only the stock held in the States, and not that employed between 
them, which would be subject to taxation, and as the names of 
foreign stockholders are not to be reported to the Treasurers of the 
States, it is obvious that the stock held by them will be exempt 
from this burden. Their annual profits will, therefore, be one per- 
cent. more than the citizens stockholders; and, as the annual divi- 
dends of the bank may be safely estimated at seven percent., the 
stock will be worth ten or fifteen per cent more to foreigners than 
to citizens of the United States. To appreciate the effect which 
this state of things will produce, we must take a brief review of the 
operations and present condition of the Bank of the United States. 

“By documents, submitted to Congress at the present session, 
it appears that, on Ist of January, 1832, of the twenty-eight millions 


300 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


of private stock in the corporation, $8,405,500. were held by 
foreigners, mostly of Great Britain. The amount of stock held in 
nine western and south-western States, is $140,200. and in the 
four southern States, is $5,623,100. and in the middle and east- 
ern States, is about $13,522,000. The profits of the bank in 1831, 
as shown in a statement to Congress, were about $3,455,598.: of 
this there accrued, in the nine western States about $352,507.; and — 
in the middle and eastern States, about $1,463,041. As little stock 
is held in the west it is obvious that the debt of the peoples, in that 
section, to the bank, is principally a debt to the eastern and foreign 
stockholders; that the interest they pay upon it, is carried into the 
eastern States and into Europe; and that it is a burden upon their 
industry,and a drain of their currency, which no country can bear 
without inconvenience and occasional distress. To meet this bur- 
den, and equalize the exchange of the bank, the amount of specie 
drawn from those States, through its branches, within the last two 
years, as shown by the official reports, was about $6,000,000. More 
than half a million of this amount does not stop in the eastern 
States, but passes on to Europe to pay the dividends of the foreign 
stockholders. In the principle of taxation recognized by this act, 
the western States find no adequate compensation for this per- 
petual burden on their industry, and drain of their currency. The 
branch bank at Mobile made last year 95,140 dollars; yet, under 
the provisions of this act, the State of Alabama can raise no reve- 
nue from these profitable operations, because not a share of the stock 
is held by any of her citizens. Mississippi and Missouri are in the 
same condition in relation to the branches at Natchez and St. Louis; 
and such, in a greater or less degree, is the condition of every west- 
ern State. The tendency of the plan of taxation which this act pro- 
poses, will be to place the whole United States in the same relation 
to foreign countries which the western States now bear to the 
eastern. When, by tax on resident stockholders, the stock of this 
bank is made worth ten to fifteen percent more to foreigners than 
to residents, most of it will inevitably leave the country. 

“Thus will this provision, in its practical effect, deprive the 
eastern as well as the southern and western States of the means of 
raising a revenue from the extension of business and great profits 
of this institution. It will make the American people debtors to 
aliens, in nearly the whole amount due to this bank, and send across 
the Atlantic from two to five millions of specie every year to pay the 
bank dividends. 

“In another of its bearings this provision is fraught with danger. 
Of the twenty-five directors of this bank, five are chosen by the 
Government, and twenty by the citizen stockholders. From all 
voices in these elections, the foreign stockholders are excluded by 
the charter. In proportion, therefore, as the stock is transferred 
to foreign holders, the extent of suffrage in the choice of directors 
is curtailed. Already is almost a third of the stock in foreign hands 
and not represented in elections. It is constantly passing out of 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 301 


the country; and this act will accelerate its departure. The entire 
control of the instution would necessarily fall into the hands of 
citizen stockholders; and the ease with which the object would be 
accomplished, would be a temptation to designing men to secure 
that control in their own hands, by monopolizing the remaining 
stock. There is danger that a president and directors would then 
be able to elect themselves from year to year, and without responsi- 
bility or control, manage the whole concerns of the bank during the 
existence of its charter. It is easy to conceive that great evils to 
our country and its institutions might flow from such a concen- 
tration of power in the hands of a few men, irresponsible of the 
people. 

“Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank, 
that, in its nature, hasso little to bind it toourcountry? The Pres- 
ident of the bank has told us that most of the State banks exist by 
its forbearance. Should its influence become concentrated, as it 
may be under the operations of such an act as this, in the hands 
of seli-elected directory whose interests are identified with those 
of the foreign stockholders, will there not be cause to tremble for the 
purity of our elections in peace, and for the independence of our 
countryin war? Their power would be great whenever they might 
choose to exert it; but if this monopoly were regularly renewed every 
fifteen or twenty years, on terms proposed by themselves, they 
might seldom in peace put forth their strength to influence elec- 
tions or control the affairs of the nation. But if any private citizen 
or public functionary should interpose to curtail its powers or pre- 
vent a renewal of its privileges, it cannot be doubted that he would 
be made to feel its influence. 

“Should the stock of the bank principally pass into the hands 
of the subjects of a foreign country, and we should unfortunately 
become involved in a war with that country, what would be our 
condition? Of the course which would be pursued by a bank 
almost wholly owned by the subjects of a foreign power, and man- 
aged by those whose interests, if not affections, would run in the 
same direction, there can be no doubt. All its operations within, 
would be aid of the hostile fleets and armies without. Controlling 
our currency, receiving our public moneys, and holding thousands 
of our citizens in dependence, it would be more formidable and 
dangerous than the naval and military power of the enemy. 

“Tf we must have a bank with private stockholders, every con- 
sideration of sound policy, and every impulse of American feeling, 
admonishes that it should be PURELY AMERICAN. Its stock- 
holders should be composed exclusively of our own citizens, who, 
at least, ought to be friendly to our Government, and willing to 
support it in times of difficulty and danger. So abundant is dom- 
estic capital, that competition in subscribing for the stock of local 
banks has recently led almost to riots. To a bank exclusively of 
American stockholders, possessing the powers and privileges grant- 
ed by this act, subscriptions for two hundred millions of dollars 


302 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


could readily be obtained. Instead of sending abroad the stock of 
the bank in which the Government must deposit its funds, and on 
which it must rely to sustain its credit in times of emergency, it 
would rather seem to be expedient to prohibit its sales to aliens 
under penalty of absolute forfeiture. 

“It is maintained by the advocates of the bank that its con- 
stitutionality in all its features ought to be considered as settled by 
precedent, and by the decision of the Supreme Court. To this 
conclusion I cannot assent. Mere precedent is a dangerous source 
of authority, and should not be regarded as deciding questions of 
constitutional power, except where the acquiesence of the people 
and the States can be considered as well settled. So far from this 
being the case on this subject, anargument against the bank might 
be based on precedent. One Congress, in 1791, decided in favor 
of a bank; another in 1811, decided against it. One Congress, in 
1815, decided against a bank; another, in 1816, decided in its favor. 
Prior to the present Congress, therefore, the precedents drawn 
from that source were equal. If we resort to the States, the 
expressions of legislative, judicial, and executive opinions against 
the bank, have been, probably, to those in its favor as four to one. 
There is nothing in precedent, therefore, which, if its authority 
were admitted, ought to weigh in favor of the act before me. 


“Tf the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole ground 
of this act, it ought not to control the co-ordinate authorities of 
this Government. 

“The Congress, the Executive, and the Court, must each for 
itself be guided by its own opinion of the constitution. Each public 
officer, who takes an oath to support the constitution, swears that 
he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood 
by others. It is as much the duty of the House of Representatives, 
of the Senate and the President, to decide upon the constitution- 
ality of any bill or resolution which may be presented to them for 
passage or approval, as it is of the Supreme Judges when it may be 
brought before them for judicial dicision. The opinion of the 
judges has no more authority over Congress, than the opinion of 
Congress has over the judges, and, on that point, the President is 
independent of both. The authority of the Supreme Court must 
not, therefore, be permitted to control the Congress or the Execu- 
tive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only 
such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve. 

“But in the case relied upon, the Supreme Court have not 
decided that all the features of this corporation are compatible 
with the constitution. It is true that the Court have said that the 
law incorporating the bank is a constitutional exercise of power by 
Congress. But taking into view the whole opinion of the Court, 
and the reasoning by which they have come to that conclusion, 
I understand them to have decided that, inasmuch as a bank is 
an appropriate means for carrying into effect the enumerated 
powers of the General Government, therefore the law incorporat- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 303 


ing it is in accordance with that provision of the constitution which 
declares that Congress shall have power ‘ to make all laws which 
shall be necessary and proper for carrying those powers into ex- 
ecution.’ Having satisfied themselves that the word ‘necessary ’ 
in the constitution, means ‘needful,’ ‘requisite,’ ‘ essential, ’ 
‘ conducive to’ and that ‘a bank’ is a convenient, a useful, and 
essential ‘instrument, in the prosecution of the Government’s 
‘ fiscal operations, ’ they conclude, that to ‘ use one must be within 
the discretion of Congress,’ and that ‘the act to incorporate the 
Bank of the United States is a law made in pursuance of the con- 
stitution; but, say they, ‘ where the law is not prohibited, and is 
really calculated to effect any of the objects entrusted to the Gov- 
erment, to undertake here, to inquire into the degree of its ne- 
cessity, would be to pass the line which circumscribes the judicial 
department, and to tread on legislative ground.’ 

“The principle here affirmed is, that the ‘ degree of its necessi- 
ty,’ involving all the details of a banking institution, is a question 
exclusively for legislative consideration. A bank is constitutional; 
but it is the province of the Legislature to determine whether this 
or that particular power, privilege or exemption, ‘is necessary 
and proper ’ to enable the bank to discharge its duties to the Gov- 
ernment; and, from their decision there is no appeal to the courts 
of justice. Under the decision of the Supreme Court, therefore, 
it is the exclusive province of Congress and the President to decide 
whether the particular features of this act are necessary and proper 
in order to enable the bank to perform conveniently and efficiently 
the public duties assigned to it as a fiscal agent and therefore 
constitutional; or unnecessary and improper, and therefore un- 
constitutional. Without commenting on the general principle 
affirmed by the Supreme Court, let us examine the details of this 
act in accordance with the rule of legislative action which they have 
laid down. It will be found that many of the powers and priv- 
ileges conferred on it cannot be supposed necessary for the purpose 
for which it is proposed to be created, and are not, therefore, 
means necessary to attain the end in view, and consequently not 
justified by the Constitution. 

“The original act of incorporation, section 21, enacts ‘ that no 
bank shall be established, by any future law of the United States, 
during the continuance of the corporation hereby created, for 
which the faith of the United States is hereby pledged; Provided, 
Congress may renew existing charters for banks within the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, not increasing the capital thereof; and may 
also establish any other bank or banks in said district, with cap- 
itals not exceeding in the whole six millions of dollars, if they 
shall deem it expedient.’ This provision is continued in force, 
by the act before me, fifteen years from the 3rd of March, 1836. 

“Tf Congress possessed the power to establish one bank, they 
had power to establish more than one if, in their opinion, two or 
more banks had been ‘necessary’ to facilitate the execution of 


304 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the powers delegated to them in the constitution. If they pos- 
sessed the power to establish a second bank, it was a power derived 
from the constitution, to be exercised from time to time, and at 
any time when the interests of the country or the emergencies 
of the Government might make it expedient. It was possessed 
by one Congress as well as another, and by all Congresses alike, 
and alike at every session. But the Congress of 1816 have taken 
it away from their successors for twenty years, and the Congress 
of 1832 proposes to abolish it for fifteen years more. It cannot be 
‘necessary’ or ‘ proper’ for Congress to barter away, or divest 
themselves of any of the powers vested in them by the constitution 
to be exercised for the public good. It is not ‘ necessary’ to the 
efficiency of the bank, nor is it ‘ proper’ in relation to themselves 
and their successors. They may properly use the discretion vested 
in them; but they may not limit the discretion of their successors. 
‘This restriction on themselves, and grant of a monopoly to the 
bank, is, therefore, unconstitutional. 

“In another point of view, this provision is a palpable attempt 
to amend the constitution by the act of legislation. The consti- 
tution declares that ‘the Congress shall have power to exercise 
exclusive legislation, in all cases what-so-ever,’ over the district of 
Columbia. Its constitutional power, therefore, to establish banks 
in the District of Columbia, and increase their capital at will, is 
unlimited and uncontrolable by any other power than that which 
gave authority to the constitution. Yet this act declares that 
Congress shall not increase the capital of existing banks, nor create 
other banks with capital exceeding, in the whole, six millions of 
dollars. The constitution declares that Congress shall have power 
to exercise exclusive legislation over this District ‘in all cases 
whatsoever ;’ and this act declares they shall not. 

“Which is the supreme law of the land? This provision cannot be 
‘necessary,’ or ‘ proper, or constitutional, unless the absurdity be 
admitted, that whenever it be ‘ necessary and proper,’ in the opin- 
ion of Congress, they have a right to barter away one portion of 
the powers vested in them by the constitution, as a means of ex- 
ecuting the rest. 


“On two subjects only does the constitution recognize in Con- 
gress the power to grant exclusive privileges or monopolies. It 
declares that ‘ Congress ’ shall have power to promote the progress 
of science and useful arts by securing, for limited times, to authors 
and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
discoveries.’ 


“Out of this express delegation of power, have grown our laws 
of patents and copy-rights. As the constitution expressly del- 
egates to Congress the power to grant exclusive privileges, in these 
cases, as the means of executing the substantive power “ to promote 
the progress of science and useful arts,’ it is consistent with the 
fair rules of construction, to conclude that such a power was not 
intended to be granted as a means of accomplishing any other 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 305 


end. On every other subject which comes within the scope of 
Congressional power, there is an ever living discretion in the use of 
proper means, which cannot be restricted or abolished without an 
amendment of the constitution. Every act of Congress, therefore, 
which attempts, by grants of monopolies, or sales of exclusive 
privileges for a limited time, or a time without limit, to restrict or 
extinguish its own discretion in the choice of means to execute 
its delegated powers is equivalent to a legislative amendment of the 
Constitution, and palpably unconstitutional. 

“This act authorizes and encourages transfers of its stock 
to foreigners and grants them an exemption from all State and 
national taxation. So far from being ‘necessary and proper’ 
that the bank should possess this power to make it a safe and 
efficient agent of the Government in its fiscal operations, it is 
calculated to convert the bank of the United States into a foreign 
bank to impoverish our people in time of peace, to disseminate a 
foreign influence through every section of the Republic, and in war 
to endanger our independence. 

“The several States reserved the power at the formation of the 
constitution to regulate and control titles and transfers of real 
property, and most, if not all, of them have laws disqualifying 
aliens from acquiring or holding lands within their limits. But 
this act, in disregard of the undoubted right of the States to pre- 
scribe such disqualifications, gives to aliens stockholders in this 
bank an interest and title, as members of the corporation, to all the 
real property it may acquire within any of the States of this Union. 
This privilege granted to aliens is not “ necessary’ to enable the 
bank to perform its public duties, nor in any sense“ proper,’ because 
it is vitally subversive of the rights of the States. 

“The Government of the United States have no constitutional 
powers to purchase lands within the States except ‘ for the erection 
of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful build- 
ings,’ and even for these objects only “ by the consent of the leg- 
islature of the State in which the same shall be.’ By making 
themselves stockholders in the bank and granting to the corpora- 
tion the power to purchase lands for other purposes they assume a 
power not granted in the Constitution and grant to others what 
they do not themselves possess. It is not necessary to the receiv- 
ing, safe-keeping, or transmission of the funds of the Government 
that the bank should possess this power, and it is not proper that 
Congress should thus enlarge the powers delegated to them in the 
Constitution. 

“The old bank of the United States possessed a capital of only 
$11,000,000, which was found fully sufficient to enable it with 
dispatch and safety to perform all the functions required of it by the 
Government. The capital of the present bank is $35,000,000—at 
least twenty-four more than experience has proved to be necessary 
to enable a bank to perform its public functions. The public 
debt which existed during the period of the old bank and on the 


20 


306 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


establishment of the new has been nearly paid off, and our revenue 
will soon be reduced. This increase of capital is therefore not for 
public but for private purposes. 

“The Government is the only ‘ proper’ judge where its agents 
should reside and keep their offices, because it best knows where 
their presence will be ‘ necessary.’ It can not, therefore, be ‘ nec- 
essary’ or ‘proper’ to authorize the bank to locate branches 
where it pleases to perform the public service, without consulting 
the Government, and contrary to its will. The principle laid 
down by the Supreme Court concedes that Congress can not 
establish a bank for purposes of private speculation and gain, but 
only as a means of executing the delegated powers of the General 
Government. By the same principle a branch can not consti- 
tutionally be established for other than public purposes. The 
power which this act gives to establish two branches in any State, 
without the injuction or request of the Government and for other 
than public purposes, is not ‘ necessary’ to the due execution of 
the powers delegated to Congress. 


“The bonus which is exacted from the bank is a confession upon 
the face of the act that the powers granted by it are greater than 
are ‘necessary’ to its character of a fiscal agent. The Govern- 
ment does not tax its officers and agents for the privileges of serv- 
ing it. The bonus of a million and a half required by the original 
charter and that of three millions proposed by this act are not 
exacted for the privilege of giving ‘the necessary facilities for 
transferring the public funds from place to place within the United 
States or Territories thereof, and for distributing the same in pay- 
ment of the public creditors without charging commission or 
claiming allowance on account of the difference of exchange,’ as 
required by the act of incorporation, but for something more 
beneficial to the stockholders. The original act declared that 
(the bonus) is granted ‘ in consideration of the exclusive privileges 
and benefits conferred by this act upon the said bank,’ and the 
act before me declares it to be ‘in consideration of the exclusive 
benefits and privileges continued by this act to the said corporation 
for fifteen years, as aforesaid.’ It is therefore for ‘ exclusive priv- 
ileges and benefits’ conferred for their own use and emolument, 
and not for the advantage of the Government, that a bonus is 
exacted. These surplus powers for which the bank is required to 
pay cannot surely be ‘ necessary ’ to make it the fiscal agent of the 
Treasury. If they were, the exaction of a bonus would not be 
* proper.’ 

“It is maintained by some that the bank is a means of executing 
the constitutional power ‘to coin money and regulate the value 
thereof.’ Congress have established a mint to coin money and pass 
laws to regulate the value thereof. The money so coined, with 
its value so regulated and such foreign coins as congress may adopt 
are the only currency known to the constitution. But if they have 
other power to regulate the currency, it was conferred to be ex- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 307 


ercised by themselves, and not to be transferred to a corporation. 
If the bank be established for that purpose with a charter un- 
alterable without its consent, congress have parted with their 
power for a term of years, during which the constitution is a dead 
letter. It is neither necessary nor proper to transfer its legislative 
’ power to such a bank, and therefore unconstitutinal. 

“By its silence, considered in connection with the decision of 
the Supreme Court in the case of McCulloch against the State of 
Maryland, this act takes from this state the power to tax a portion 
of the banking business carried on within its limits, in subversion 
of one of the strongest beariers which secured them against Federal 
encroachments. Banking, like farming, manufacturing, or any 
other occupation or profession is a business, the right to follow which 
is not originally derived from the laws. Every citizen and every 
company of citizens in all of ourstates possessed the right until the 
State Legislatures deemed it good policy to prohibit private bank- 
ing by law. If the prohibitory state laws were now repealed, 
every citizen would again possess the right. The State Banks are 
a qualified restoration of the right which has been taken away by 
the laws against banking, guarded by such provisions and limita- 
tions as in the opinion of the State Legislatures the public interest 
requires. These corporations, unless there be an exemption in 
their charter, are, like private bankers and banking companies, 
subject to state taxation. The manner in which these taxes shall 
be laid depends wholly on legislative discretion. It may be upon 
the bank, upon the stock, upon the profits, or in any other mode 
which the sovereign power shall will. 

“Upon the formation of the Constitution the states guarded 
their taxing power with peculiar jealousy. They surrendered it 
only as it regards imports and exports. In relation to every other 
object within their jurisdiction, whether persons, property, bus- 
iness, or professions, it was secured in as ample a manner as it was 
before possessed. All persons, though United States officers, are 
liable to a poll tax by the States within which they reside. The 
lands of the United States are liable to the usual land tax except 
in the new States, from whom agreements that they will not tax 
unsold lands are exacted when they are admitted into the Union. 
Horses, wagons, any beasts or vehicles, tools or property, belonging 
to private citizens, though employed in the service of the United 
States, are subject to State taxation. Every private business, 
whether carried on by an officer of the General Government or not, 
whether it be mixed with public concerns or not, even if it be car- 
ried on by the Government of the United States itself, separately 
or in partnership, falls within the scope of the taxing power of the 
State. Nothing comes more fully within it than banks and the 
business of banking, by whomsoever instituted and carried on. 
Over this whole subject-matter it is just as absolute, unlimited, and 
uncontrollable as if the Constitution had never been adopted, be- 
cause in the formation of that instrument it was reserved without 
qualification. 


308 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


“The principle is conceded that the States can not rightfully 
tax the operations of the General Government. They can not 
tax the money of the Government deposited in the State banks, 
nor the agency of those banks in remitting it; but will any man 
maintain that their mere selection to perform this public service 
for the General Government would exempt the State banks and 
their ordinary business from State taxation? Had the United 
States instead of establishing a bank at Philadelphia, employed a 
private banker to keep and transmit their funds, would it have. 
deprived Pennsylvania of the right to tax his bank and his usual 
banking operations? It will not be pretended. Upon what prin- 
ciple then, are the banking establishments of the bank of the 
United States and their usual banking operations to be exempted 
from taxation? It is not their public agency or the deposits of the 
Government which the States claim a right to tax, but their banks 
and their banking powers, instituted and exercised within State 
jurisdiction, for their private emolument—those powers and 
privileges for which they pay a bonus, and which the States tax 
in theirown banks. ‘The exercise of these powers within the State, 
no matter by whom or under what authority, whether by private 
citizens in their original right, by co-operate bodies created by the 
States, by foreigners or the agents of foreign governments located 
within their limits, forms a legitimate object of state taxation. 
From this and like sources, from the persons, property, and bus- 
iness that are found residing, located or carried on under their juris- 
diction, must the States, since the surrender of their right to raise 
a revenue from imports and exports, draw all the money necessary 
for the support of their Government and the maintainence of their 
independence. ‘There is no more appropriate subject of taxation 
than banks, banking, and bank stocks, and none to which the 
States ought more pertinaciously to cling. 


“It cannot be necessary to the charter of the bank as a fiscal 
agent of the Government that its private business should be exempt- 
ed from that taxation to which all the State banks are liable, nor 
can I conceive it ‘ proper’ that the substantive and most essential 
powers reserved by the State shall be thus attacked and annihilated 
asameansofexecuting the powers delegated to the general Govern- 
ment. It may be safely assumed that none of those sages who 
had an agency in forming or adopting our Constitution ever im- 
agined that any portion of the taxing power of the States not pro- 
hibited to them nor delegated to Congress was to be swept away 
and annihilated as a means of executing certain powers delegated 
to Congress. 


“If our powerover means is so absolute that the Supreme Court 
will not call in question the constitutionality of an act of Congress 
the subject of which ‘is not prohibited, and is really calculated to 
effect any of the objects intrusted to the Government.’ Although, 
as in the case before me, it takes away powers expressly granted to 
Congress and rights scrupulously reserved to the States, it becomes 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISToRY 309 


us to proceed in our legislation with the utmost caution. Though 
not directly, our own powers and the rights of the States may be 
indirectly legislated away in the use of means to execute substan- 
tive powers. We may not enact that Congress shall not have the 
power of exclusive legislation over the District of Columbia, 
but we may pledge the faith of the United States, that as a 
means of executing other powers it shall not be exercised for 
twenty years or forever. We may not pass an act prohibiting 
the States to tax the banking business carried on within their 
limits, but we may, as a means of executing our powers over other 
objects, place that business in the hands of our agents and then 
declare it exempt from State taxation in their hands. Thus may 
our own powers and the rights of the States, which we can not 
directly curtail or invade, be frittered away and extinguished in 
the use of means employed by us to execute other powers. ‘That 
a bank of the United States, competent to all the duties which 
may be required by the Government, might be so organized as not 
to infringe on our own delegated powers or the reserved rights of 
the States I do not entertain a doubt. Had the Executive been 
called upon to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty 
would have been cheerfully performed. In the absence of such a’ 
call it was obviously proper that he should confine himself to 
pointing out those prominent features in the act presented which 
in his opinion make’ it imcompatible with the Constitution and 
sound policy. A general discussion will now take place, eliciting 
new light and settling important principles; and new Congress, 
elected in the midst of such discussion, and furnishing an equal 
representation of the people according to the last census, will bear 
to the Capitol the verdict of public opinion, and, I doubt not, 
bring this important question to a satisfactory result. 

“Under such circumstances the bank comes forward and asks 
a renewal of its charter for a term of fifteen years upon conditions 
which not only operate as a gratuity to the stockholders of many 
millions of dollars, but will sanction any abuses and legalize any 
encroachments. 

“Suspicions are entertained and charges are made of gross abuse 
and violation of its charter. An investigation unwillingly con- 
ceded and so restricted in time as necessarily to make it imcomplete 
and unsatisfactory discloses enough to excite suspicion and alarm. 
In the practices of the principal bank partially unveiled, in the 
absence of important witnesses, and in numerous charges con- 
fidently made and as yet wholly uninvestigated there was enough 
to induce a majority of the committee of investigation—a com- 
mittee which was selected from the most able and honorable mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives—to recommend a suspen- 
sion of further action upon the will and a prosecution of the inquiry. 
As the charter had yet four years to run, and as a renewal now 
was not necessary to the successful prosecution of its business, it 
was to have been expected that the bank itself, conscious of its 


310 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


purity and proud of its character, would have withdrawn its ap- 
plication for the present, and demanded the severest scrutiny into 
all its transactions. In their declining to doso there seems to be 
an additional reason why the functionaries of the Government 
.should proceed with less haste and more caution in the renewal of 
their monopoly. 

“The bank is professedly éstablished as an agent of the execu- 
tive branch of the Government, and its constitutionality is main- 
tained on that ground. Neither upon-the propriety of present 
action nor upon the provisions of this act was the executive con- 
sulted. It has had no opportunity to say that it neither needs nor 
wants an agent clothed with such powers and favored by such 
exemptions. There is nothing in its legitimate functions which 
makes it necessary or proper. Whatever interest or influence, 
whether public or private, has given birth to this act, it can not 
be found either in the wishes or necessities of the executive depart- 
ment, by which present action is deemed premature, and the 
powers conferred upon its agent not only unnecessary, but danger- 
ous to the Government and country. 


“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend 
the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in 
society will always exist under every just government. Equality 
of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human 
institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the 
fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is 
equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake 
to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, 
to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the 
rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of 
society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers—who have neither 
the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have 
a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There 
are no necessary evils in government. Its evilis only in its abuses. 
If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does 
its rain, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich 
and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act 
before me there seems to be a wide and unnecessary department 
from these just principles. 

“Nor is our Government to be maintained or our Union pre- 
served by invasions of the rights and powers of the several States. 
In thus attempting to make our General Government strong we 
make it weak. Its true strength consists in leaving individuals 
and States as much as possible to themselves—in making itself 
felt, not in its power, but in its beneficence; not in its control, but 
in its protection, not in binding the States more closely to the 
center, but leaving each to move unobstructed in its proper orbit. 

‘Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties 
our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which 
impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 311 


legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation, and 
the adoption of such principles as are embodied inthisact. Many 
of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and 
equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act 
of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in 
the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, inter- 
est against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion 
which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union. It is 
time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if possible 
revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which 
distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our 
Union. If we cannot at once, in justice to interests vested under 
improvident legislation, make our Government what it ought to 
be, we can at least take a stand against all new grants of monopolies 
and exclusive privileges, against any prostitution of our Govern- 
ment to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many, 
and in favor or compromise and gradual reform in our code of 
laws and system of political economy. 

“T have now done by duty to my country. If sustained by my 
fellow-citizens, I shall be grateful and happy; if not I shall find in 
the motives which impel me ample grounds for contentment and 
peace. In the difficulties which surround us, in the dangers which 
threaten our institutions, there is cause for neither dismay or 
alarm. For relief and deliverence let us firmly rely on that kind 
Providence which I am sure watches with peculiar care over the 
destinies of our Republic, and on the intelligence and wisdom of our 
countrymen. Through His abundent goodness and their patriotic 
devotion our liberty and Union will be preserved.” 

Thomas H. Benton in his “Thirty Years View,” Volume 1, page 
265, makes this quotation from Hugh Lawson White, Senator from 
Tennessee: 

“On the other hand, Mr. White, of Tennessee, exalted the merit 
of the veto message above all the acts of General Jackson’s life, 
and claimed for it a more enduring fame, and deeper gratitude 
than for the greatest of his victories; and concluded his speech 
thus: 

“When the excitement of the time in which we act shall have 
passed away, and the historian and biographer shall be employed 
in giving his account of the acts of our most distinguished public 
men, and comes to the name of Andrew Jackson; when he shall 
have recounted all the great and good deeds done by this man in 
the course of a long and eventful life, and the circumstances under 
which this message was communicated shall have been stated, the 
conclusion will be, that, in doing this, he has shown a willingness 
to risk more to promote the happiness of his fellow-men, and to 
secure their liberties, than by the doing of any other act whatever.’ 


JACKSON’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
(March 4, 1833) 
“FELLOW CITIZENS; The will of the American people, ex- 


312 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


pressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to 
pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself 
the duties of President of the United States for another term. 
For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which 
has not been without its difficulties and for this renewed expression 
of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms 
adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed 
to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to ad- 
minister the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote 
their happiness. 

*“So many events have occurred within the last four years which 
have necessarily called forth sometimes under circumstances the 
most delicate and painful my views of the principles and policy 
which ought to be pursued by the General Government that I 
need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations 
connected with some of them. 

“The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after 
the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pur- 
sued by successive administrations, has been crowned with almost 
complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations 
of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from 
none has been during my administration its governing maxim, and 
so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with 
all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of 
minor importance, remaining unadjusted. 

“In the domestic policy of this Government there are two 
objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and 
their representatives, and which have been and will continue to bethe 
subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of 
the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union. 

‘These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only 
be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within 
its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will consti- 
tutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to 
to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitution- 
ally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper con- 
fidence in those institutions of the several States and of the United 
States which the people themselves have ordained for their own 
government. 


‘““My experience in public concern and the observation of a 
life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed 
by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the anni- 
hilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would 
lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism 
and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General 
Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same 
proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its abil- 
ity to fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly impressed 
with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


Painting now hanging in the Council Chamber of the City Hall, Charleston, South Carolina. Painted by John 
Vanderlyn, 1775-1852, in 1815 it is thought. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 313 


to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting measures which 
may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the State to 
tend to consolidate all political power in the General Govern- 
ment. But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable importance in 
the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute 
to its preservation by a liberal support of the General Government 
in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admon- 
ished to ‘ accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as 
of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching 
for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing what- 
ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be aban- 
doned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any 
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to 
enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.’ 
Without union our independence and liberty would never have been 
achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided 
into twenty-four, or even a small number, of separate communities, 
we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints 
and exactions; communication between distant points and sections 
obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood 
the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne 
down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and 
military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming 
our lawgivers and judges. The loss of happiness, must inevitably 
follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, 
we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist. 

““The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The 
eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the 
existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the 
practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the 
stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must 
rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the 
importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. 
Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our 
country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from 
the lessons they inculate. 

“Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and 
under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, 
I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just 
powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity 
the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same time, it will be 
my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising 
by the General Government those powers only that are clearly 
delegated ; to encourage simplicity and the economy in the expend- 
itures of the Government; to raise no more money from the people 
than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will 
best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of 
all portions of the Union. Constantly bearing in mind that in 
entering into society ‘individuals must give up a share of liberty 


314 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to preserve the rest,’ it will be my desire so to discharge my duties 
as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit 
of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our 
fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must un- 
avoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recom- 
mend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and 
affections of the American people. 

“Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being 
before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from 
the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so over- 
rule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my 
fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds 
and continue forever a united and happy people. 


JACKSON’S. MESSAGE ON TEXAS AND MEXICO. 
(December 21, 1836). 


‘To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States:— During the last session information was given to Congress 
by the Executive that measures had been taken to ascertain ‘ the 
political, military, and civil condition of Texas.’ I now submit for 
your consideration extracts from the report of the agent who had 
been appointed to collect it relative to the condition of that coun- 
try. 

“No steps have been taken by the Executive toward the ack- 
nowledgment of the independence of Texas, and the whole subject 
would have been left without further remark on the information 
now given to Congress were it not that the two Houses at their 
last session, acting separately, passed resolutions ‘ that the inde- 
pendence of Texas ought to be acknowledged by the United States 
whenever satisfactory information should be received that it had 
in successful operation a civil government capable of performing 
the duties and fulfilling the obligations of an indepedent power., 
This mark of interest in the question of the independence of Texas 
and indication of the views of Congress make it proper that I should 
somewhat in detail present the considerations that have governed 
the Executive in continuing to occupy the ground previously taken 
in the contest between Mexico and Texas. 

“The acknowledgment of a new state as independent and 
entitled to a place in the family of nations is at all times an act of 
great delicacy and responsibility, but more especially so when such 
state has forcibly separated itself from another of which it has form- 
ed an integral part and which still claims dominion over it. A 
premature recognition under these circumstances, if not looked 
upon as justifiable cause of war, is always liable to be regarded 
as a proof of an unfriendly spirit to one of the contending parties. 
All questions relative to the government of foreign nations, whether 
of the Old or the New World, have been treated by the United 
States as questions of fact only, and our predecessors have cautious- 
ly abstained from deciding upon them until the clearest evidence 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 315 


was in their possession to enable them not only to decide correctly, 
but to shield their decisions from every unworthy imputation. 
Tn all the contests that have arisen out of the revolutions of France, 
out of the disputes relating to the crowns of Portugal and Spain, 
out of the revolutionary movements of those Kingdoms, out of the 
separation of the American possessions of both from the European 
Governments, and out of the numerous and constantly occurring 
struggles for dominion in Spanish America, so wisely consistent 
with our just principles has been the action of our Government 
that we have under the most critical circumstances avoided all 
censure and encounted no other evil than that produced by a 
.transient estrangement of good will in those against whom we have 
been by force of evidence compelled to decide. 

“It has thus been made known to the world that the uniform 
policy and practice of the United States is to avoid all interference 
in disputes which merely relate to the internal government of other 
nations, and eventually to recognize the authority of the prevailing 
party, without reference to our particular interests and views or 
to the merits of the original controversy. Public opinion here is 
so firmly established and well understood in favor of this policy 
that no serious disagreement has ever arisen among ourselves in 
relation to it, although brought under review in a variety of forms 
and at periods when the minds of the people were greatly excited 
by the agitation of topics purely domestic in their character. Nor 
has any deliberate inquiry ever been instituted in Congress or 
in any of our legislative bodies as to whom belonged the power of 
originally recognizing a new State—a power the exercise of which 
is equivalent under Some circumstances to a declaration of war; 
a power nowhere expressly delegated, and only granted in the 
Constitution as it is necessarily involved in some of the great power 
given to Congress, in that given to the President and Senate to 
form treaties with foreign powers and to appoint ambassadors 
and other public ministers, and in that conferred upon the Pres- 
ident to receive ministers from foreign nations. 

“In the preamble to the resolution of the House of Represent- 
atives it is distinctly intimated that the expediency of recognizing 
the independence of Texas should be left to the decision of Con- 
gress. In this view, on the ground of expediency, I am disposed to 
concur, and do not, therefore, consider it necessary to express any 
opinion as to the strict constitutional right of the Executive, either 
apart from or in conjunction with the Senate, over the subject. 
It is to be presumed that on no future occasion will a dispute arise, 
as none has heretofore occurred, between the Executive and Leg- 
islature in the exercise of the power of recognition. It will always 
be considered consistent with the spirit of the Constitution, and 
most safe, that it should be exercised, when probably leading to 
war, with a previous understanding with that body by whom war 
can alone be declared, and by whom all provisions for sustaining its 
perils must be furnished. Its submission to Congress, which rep- 


316 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


resents in one of its branches the states of this Union and the 
other the people of the United Stat2s, where there may b2 reason- 
able ground to apprehend so grave a consequence, would certainly 
afford the fullest satisfaction to our own country and a perfect 
guaranty to all other nations of the justice and prudence of the 
measures which might be adopted. 

“In making these suggestions it is not my purpose to relieve 
myself from the responsibility of expressing my own opinions of 
the course the interests of our country prescribe and its honor per- 
mits us to follow. 

“It is scarcely to be imagined that a question of this character 
could be presented in relation to which it would be more difficult 
for the United States to avoid exciting the suspicion and jealousy 
of other powers, and maintain their established character for fair 
and impartial dealing. But on this, as on every trying occasion, 
safety is to be found in a rigid adherence to principle. 

“In the contest between Spain and her revolted colonies we 
stood aloof and waited, not only until the ability of the new States 
to protect themselves was fully established, but until the danger of 
their being again subjugated had entirely passed away. ‘Then, 
and not till then, were they recognized. Such was our course in 
regard to Mexico herself. The same policy was observed in all 
the disputes growing out of the separation into distinct govern- 
ments of those Spanish-American States who began or carried 
on the contest with the parent country united under one form of 
government. We acknowledged the separate independence of 
New Granada, of Venezula, and of Ecuador only after their inde- 
pendent existence was no longer a subject of dispute or was actually 
acquiesced in by those with whom they had been previously united. 
It is true that, with regard to Texas, the civil authority of Mexico 
has been expelled, its invading army defeated, the chief of the 
Republic himself captured, and all present power to control the 
newly organized government of Texas annihilated within its 
confines. But, on the other hand, there is, in appearance at 
least, an immense disparity of physical force on the side of Mexico. 
The Mexican Republic under another executive is rallying its forces 
under a new leader and menacing a fresh invasion to recover its 
lost dominion. 


“Upon the issue of this threatened invasion the independence 
of Texas may be considered as suspended, and were there nothing 
peculiar in the relative situation of the United States and Texas 
our acknowledgment of its independence at such a crisis could 
scarcely be regarded as consistent with that prudent reserve with 
which we have heretofore held ourselves bound to treat all similar 
questions. But there are circumstances in the relations of the two 
countries which would require us to act on this occasion with even 
more than our wonted caution. Texas was once claimed as a part 
of our property, and there are those among our citizens who, always 
reluctant to abandon that claim, can not but regard with solicitude 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 317 


the prospect of the reunion of the territory to this country. A 
large proportion of its civilized inhabitants are emigrants from 
the United States, speak the same language with ourselves, cherish 
the same principles, political and religious, and are bound to many 
of our citizens by ties of friendship, and kindred blood; and, more 
than all, it is best known that the people of that country have insti- 
tuted the same form of government with our own, and have since 
the close of your last session openly resolved, on the acknowledg- 
ment by us of their independence, to seek admission into the 
Union as one of the Federal States. This last circumstance is a 
matter of peculiar delicacy, and forces upon us considerations of 
the gravest character. The title of Texas to the territory she 
claims is identified with her independence. She asks us to acknowl- 
edge that title to the territory, with an avowed design to treat im- 
ediately of its transfer to the United States. It becomes us to 
beware of a too early movement, as it might subject us, however 
unjustly, to the imputation of seeking to establish the claim of 
our neighbors to a territory with a view to its subsequent acquisi- 
tion by ourselves. Prudence, therefore, seems to dictate that we 
should still stand aloof and maintain our present attitude, if not 
until Mexico itself or one of the Great foreign powers shall recog- 
nize the independence of the new Government, at least until the 
lapse of time or the course of events shall have proved beyond cavil 
or dispute the ability of the people of that country to maintain 
their separate sovereignty and to uphold the Government con- 
stituted by them. Neither of the contending parties can justly 
complain of this course. By pursuing it we are but carrying out 
the long-established policy of our Government—a policy which has 
secured to us respect and influence abroad and inspired confidence 
at home. 

“Having thus discharged my duty, by presenting with sim- 
plicity and directness the views which after much reflection'I have 
been led to take of this important subject, I have only to add the 
expression of my confidence that if Congress shall differ with me 
upon it their judgment will be the result of dispassionate, prudent, 
and wise deliberation, with the assurance that during the short 
time I shall continue connected with the Government I shall 
promptly and cordially unite with you in such measures as may be 
deemed best fitted to increase the prosperity and perpetuate the 
peace of our favored country.‘ 


318 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
4 


CHAPTER 13. 


Life and history of Peggy O'Neal; her own story in 
interview in the National Republican of Wash- 
ington in 1874; resignation of Maj. J. H. Eaton 
fromthe Cabin:t: Jackson’s reply to Maj. Eaton; 
correspondence between Maj. Eaton and Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, S. D. Ingham; Ingham to 
Jackson; Jackson to Col. Campbell of the U. S. 
Treasury and others; their reply. 


TACRGRCR RCAC Oe 


PERSO TAL 


ahe¢S Se ROR TA aL Ga a a DD aT TaD OD GD a Ga a eS Des 


The story of Peggy O’Neal, who married Maj. John H. Eaton, 
for eleven years United States Senator from Tennessee and also 
Secretary of War in the first Cabinet of Andrew Jackson, 
is one in which the pathos, mistakes and suffering make an appeal 
to all right-minded men and women; and in which the same class 
can see an exhibition of some of the most offensive possibilities 
of American politics either in high places or low. Early American 
politics had no hesitancy about getting down into the mud and 
throwing the mud upon both men and women. Such methods 
seem to have been looked upon as a matter-of-course procedure 
and as deserving censure from nobody. Bringing Mrs. Andrew 
Jackson into a public discussion that was rotten created an easy 
precedent for assaulting in the newspapers of the day, the character 
of the’ wife of Jackson’s Secretary of War, who generally, and 
probably truly, was regarded as having as much influence over 
Old Hickory as any other one man among his friends. 

The sad part of her life after she married Major Eaton was due 
to no fault of hers and to no true and authenticated charge against 
her character. History brings down to us not a scrap of testimony 
establishing the charge that she was or ever had been an impure 
woman. She was the victim of that irresponsible social gossip 
in Washington that riots in detraction and spares nobody. 

A study of all available sources of evidence as to the allegations 
of misconduct that have reached us, fails utterly to diclose any 
charge against Peggy except vague Washington gossip that ex- 
hibits neither substance, dimensions, probability or circum- 
stances of time and place. Nothing alleged against her character 
will stand the test of criticism or reason or that does not dissolve 
nto the thin air of social gossip when tests are applied to it. 


PEGGY O’NEAL EATON, 1796-1879. 


Wife of John H. Eaton, Secetary of War. Engraving is copied from an oil painting by Henry Inman, 1801- 
1846, made In Mrs. Eaton’s lifetime, and now owned by Mr. Arthur Meeker of Lake-Shore Drive, Chicago 
by whose permission a copy is reproduced in this volume. See Chapters 13 and 22. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 319 


Where Peggy O’Neal is subject to criticism was when at the age 
of sixty she married a young Italian who was the dancing master 
of her two daughters, and who wheedled her out of the greater 
part of her property, and fled to Europe with it. This marriage 
of hers was an act of supreme folly for which it is BEN to 
find any excuse or mitigation. 


But let us take up in some detail the story of this woman who 
in Jackson’s Administration loomed large in newspapers, politics» 
the kindest regards of Old Hickory and in the devoted affection of 
Major Eaton. 


Wm. O’Neal, her father, also spelled O’Neil was a Pennsyl- 
vanian by birth, fine looking, friendly, given to hilarity, very pop- 
ular, and a tavern keeper in Washington, D. C.,ina house that 
was subsequently called “The Franklin.” After his death in 
1837 his hotel was bought by John Gadsby, greatly improved, and 
run by him for several years as a hotel. Gadsby then moved into 
what was called the ‘“‘National Hotel’ and changed the Franklin 
into five residences. 


Wm O’Neal had a wife who died in 1860, three daughters, 
Margaret Peggy, Mary, Georgiana, andtwosons, Robert and Wiliam. 
Peggy married John Bowie Timberlake, a purser in the Navy, June 
16, 1816, who committed suicide leaving two daughters. She was 
17 years of age when married. Timberlake was a Virginian. 
Mary O’Neal married Lieut. Grimes Randolph of Va., an Assis- 
tant Surgeon, United States Navy, and Georgiana married Rev. 
Frank S. Evans, on July 23, 1829, a minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

Wm. O’Neal was probably of Irish descent, but he had no 
brogue and all accounts agree that he was a man of respectability 
and many friends, and that General Jackson, Major John H. Eaton, 
John Randolph and many of the political leaders of the day, lived 
at his hotel when Congress was in session. Here Peggy got ac- 
quainted with the politicians of the country. She was a pretty if 
not a beautiful woman, a close observer, gay, quick, lively, prompt 
in retort, fearless, sarcastic and combative from her girl-hood up. 
She was just such a woman that would be popular with men and 
unpopular with women, and it was women more than men who 
contributed most to the misfortunes of her life. 


No American woman ever had the influence in politics and 
public affairs that she had, and none ever had more loyal and de- 


320 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


termined friends or more relentless enemies, and these enemies 
were mostly women. Opinions that have come down to us differ 
as to the kind and degree of her beauty but are unanimous as to 
the fascination and magnetism that she possessed. She had a 
wholesome joy of life and keen and exuberant love of pleasure. 
No wonder,she was popular among men. Living was a joy to 
her and that of itself radiates attractiveness to others. 

Her personality was marked and distinguished whereever she 
went, and drew from the first American lyric poet, Edward Coate 
Pinkney, who saw her in Baltimore after she married Timberlake, 
this beautiful toast, entitled ‘‘Health,’’ and dedicated it to the 
most beautiful woman in America: 


“T fill this cup to one made up 
Of loveliness alone, 
A woman of her gentle sex 
The seeming paragon. 
To whom the better elements 
And kindly stars have given 
A form so fair, that like the air, 
‘ Tis less of earth than Heaven. 


“Of her bright face one glance will trace 
A picture on the brain, 
And of her voice, in echoing hearts 
A sound must long remain; 
And memory such as mine of her 
So very much endears, 
When death is nigh my latest sigh 
Will not be life ’s but hers. 


“‘Affections are as thoughts to her, 
The measure of her hours; 

Her feelings have the fragrancy 
‘The freshness of young flowers. 

And lovely passions changing oft 
So fill her, she appears 

The image of themselves by turns, 
The idol of past years. 


“T filled this cup to one made up 
Of loveliness alone, 
A woman of her gentle sex 
The seeming paragon. 
Her health! And would on earth there were 
Some more of such a frame, 
That life might be all poetry 
And weariness a name!” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 321 


On January 1, 1829, Major Eaton married Peggy O’ Neal whom 
he had known at her father’s hotel as a girl, as Mrs. Timberlake 
and as a widow, and with this marriage began the troubles of 
himself and wife which got into politics and forms one of the 
most contemptible episodes in American history. 

That the reader may appreciate the real inwardness of the 
Peggy Eaton episode it should be stated that John C. Calhoun 
was elected vice-president with Jackson as President in 1828, 
and was very anxious to succeed Jackson in the White House. 
It was uncertain whether Jackson would want a second term. In 
fact at heart he did not want a second term, but his friends talked 
him into running again. 

Calhoun’s friends opposed Jackson for a second race as they 
wanted Calhoun to run. The Senate refused to confirm Van 
Buren as Secretary of State in Jackson’s first Cabinet and the 
Democrats nominated him for Vice-President with Jackson as 
President in the election of 1832. 

Then began a determined political battle as to who should 
succeed Jackson at the end of his second term, on March 4, 1837, 
Van Buren or Calhoun. 

It became known before the names of Jackson’s first Cabinet 
were sent to the Senate, that Major John H. Eaton would be 
Secretary of War. The opponents to his being Secretary of War 
turned out afterwards to be all advocates of John C. Calhoun for 
President and against Van Buren, who was Jackson’s choice as his 
successor. They began to try to keep Jackson from making Van 
Buren his successor, and in this fight began to make vague charges 
against the chastity and character of Mrs. Eaton. If Major Eaton 
had been for Calhoun for President the world would never have 
heard of what Van Buren calls in his autobiography ‘“The Eaton 
Malaria.” Calhoun’s friends reasoned that Jackson would have 
controlling influence in the selection of his successor; that Major 
Eaton had great influence with Jackson, and was a friend and 
supporter of Van Buren for President, and if allowed to get in and 
remain in the Cabinet, would prove the undoing of Calhoun’s 
ambition to run for President at the next election. 

Happily for Major Eaton and his wife, Peggy O’Neal Eaton, 
they have both left behind them full statements of their social and 
political troubles which are reproduced in full in this volume, and 
which to a thoughtful reader does not afford a pleasant picture of 
the life and customs of that day. The author can recall no in- 

21 


322 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HisToRY 


stance in American history where a reputable public man has been 
compelled to endure the humiliation of placing before the public 
his domestic and private affairs in order to defend his wife, who 
held no public position, and who in decent politics was not amen- 
able to assault from any political source for any reason of a public 
nature whatever. There are numbers of black episodes in our 
politics, but on none of them can an American citizen gaze with 
more humiliation than upon the treatment accorded Major Eaton 
and his wife. . , 

The bone of contention was that Mrs. Eaton was not a virtuous 
woman, yet John C. Calhoun took his wife to call on her, and the 
call was returned by the Eatons. If Mrs. Eaton was not a Vir- 
tuous woman what justification can there be for Calhoun and his 
wife calling on her at all? Calhoun shrinks in our estimate of 
him in this matter. 

But our contempt for J. M. Berrien is probably greatest of all. 
He was a guest at the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Eaton and after- 
wards repudiated both of them. Here is his explanation in a pub- 
lic letter to Major Eaton in trying to justify himself. 

‘“‘Although therefore I have the most unaffected reluctance to 
enter upon such a subject, and certainly did not acquiesce in your 
right to demand it, it seems to me that you have by making the 
inquiry, imposed upon me the obligation to do so, from a just con- 
sideration of what I owe to myself and to the public. I have then 
to state to you, that up to the time of your marriage I had not 
heard the rumors which have since in various forms, been presented 
to the public, and was ignorant of Mrs. Eaton’s relation to the 
society of this place. I accepted your invitation to be present at 
your wedding therefore, with no distrust of the propriety of my 
doing so other than that which resulted from my own situation at 
that period. You are yourself no doubt aware how much that 
event and your subsequent introduction into the Cabinet, made 
these rumors the subject of conversation. I could not longer 
continue in ignorance of that which was publicly and generally ~ 
spoken of, and it consequently became necessary for me, embar- 
rassed as the question was by the official relation in which we stood 
to each other, to determine my future conduct. In doing this it 
did not seem to me to be necessary to decide upon the truth or 
falsehood of the statements which were made. It was sufficient 
to ascertain the general sense of the community of which I had re- 
cently become a member; and having done so, to conform to it.” 

This explanation is worse than the original offense. It brands 
Berrien as a social trimmer and political coward, and, withal, as 
having so little judgement as.to believe that his defense would 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 323 


justify him in the eyes of any intelligent person. He says, in 
effect, he did not consider it his duty to pass on the charges made 
against Mrs. Eaton and did not do so; but that he found the run 
of public opinion to be against her and he concluded he would fall 
in with what the people among whom he had come to live while 
in the Cabinet, appeared to think of Mrs. Eaton, and therefore, 
did not exchange social courtesies with her and Major Eaton. 
This is not only pussillanimous, it is silly. He not only did pass 
judgment on Mrs. Eaton and found her guilty on the testimony 
of the social gossip of Washington, but he proclaimed her guilty to 
all the United States by refusing to have social contact with her, 
and letting that fact be known in the controversy over Mrs. Eaton 
that was going on in Washington. The fact of his refusing to 
recognize her socially was in itself a judgment of guilty and could 
not be construed any other way. He was cited as among those who 
credited the charges against her. He never publicly or privately ’ 
said a word in her defense, yet, this spineless politician would have 
posterity believe that he did not pre-judge her to her detriment. 


PEGGY O'NEAL. 


In 1874 during a visit of Mrs. John H. Eaton—Peggy O ’Neal— 
to Washington, D. C.,from her home in New York City, the 
National Republican newspaper of Washington sent one of its 
representatives to call on Mrs. Eaton, and, if possible, have a 
lengthy interview with her about incidents of her life, and, if pos- 
sible, get her consent to make the interview public. The represent- 
ative was successful in his mission and reported a very carefully 
prepared statement of what was said at the interview, which was 
published in full in the National Republican. It is historically 
the most valuable statement in reference to Peggy O Neal and her 
life that was ever published, and throws much light upon many 
incidents in her life over which controversy once angrily raged. 

The author thinks that the truth concerning this part of Jack- 
son’s first administration as well as justice to Major Eaton and 
his wife, demand that the latter’s version of their unhappy exper- 
iences, narrated from their stand-point, should be preserved in 
some permanent form. Amidst all the dreary and nauseating 
slush that has reached us in vague, indefinite and slanderous terms, 
Mrs. Eaton’s statement is the only one that faces and overthrows 
every insinuation, and quiets the submarine charges and gum-shoe 
whispers that did her and her husband so much harm. 


324 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Among those who have written against Eaton and his wife, 
not one has ever quoted a witness or furnished credible proof of © 
‘wrong doing at any definite time or place or given circumstances of 
guilt, against them. 

We quote from the National Republican’s article which em- 
braces Mrs. Eaton’s interview: 


‘That decade included within the dates of 1828 and 1838 is one 
of the most remarkable in our nation’s history. It glistens with 
noted achievements of statesmen and diplomats. ‘The best powers 
of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Govern- 
ment were in constant exercise and attrition, and with results 
which made political fortunes for some, political graves for others; 
destroyed factions, built up parties, and shaped the course of em- 
pire. There were giants in those days, men of tremendous pas- 
sions, hungering and thirsting for glory; men whose stakes were 
for high places, and whose ambition pervaded the atmosphere 
like the burning rays of the midday sun. 

“The records of this decade are imperishable as the pyramids. 
They form many of the high mountains, the deep canons and the 
mighty rivers on the surface of our political history. ‘The able, 
impartial and dignified administration of John Quincy Adams, 
which from the first was full of patriotism, and eminent through- 
out for beneficent measures, had fulfilled its mission, and its 
closing day was attended by many setting stars, hitherto brilliant 
in American annals; but the shining names of Clay, Webster, Van 
Buren, Calhoun, Benton, Hayne, Woodbury, Cambreling and 
Everett were rising to the zenith of their fame and among them, like 
a central orb, the name of Andrew Jackson. 

“In 1829 one of the most remarkable women America ever 
produced came prominently into view before the public. At the 
age of seventy-five she is still a hale, vigorous, well-preserved 
lady, and in her form and face there are now many of the lines and 
lineaments of that queenly beauty which once led captive many 
men. bs 


“MRS. GENERAL JOHN H. EATON 


is now in Washington on a brief visit from her home in New 
York. Yesterday it was the privilege of a representative of the 
National Republican to have an hour or two’s conversation with 
her and to obtain her consent to make the conversation public. 
All the following statements of facts concerning her are by her 
authority, and they cover incidents in her wonderful history from 
earliest infancy to the present time, and constitute a chapter 
thrilling as the romantic imagination of the great masters of fiction. 
While it confirms some of the items familiar to the general reader 
touching her life, it explodes many a false idea and gives a clear and 
true insight into the foundation and history of the scandalous 
charges which made her name famous, which led to dissolutions 


io. oh ato Bn aes oe. 


- < 
- es 3 
; ~ { ; 

% . ee ot he ‘ 
y a : ¢ 
") ’ — < » * 

_ bine 4 oa 7 - i 


ANDREW JACKSON. 
Painting hanging in the City Hall, New York. Executed in 1820 by John Vanderlyn, 1775-1852. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND HARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 325 


of Cabinets, which killed the higher aspirations of Calhoun for 
political preferment, which made Van Buren President of the 
United States, and which illustrated the devotion of Old Hickory 
to an injured woman. 


“GENERAL JOHN H. EATON. 


“Inasmuch as this paper or memoir is dealing with facts, and 
taking a step backward to the world that lies behind, it can hardly 
be an error to make younger readers, at least, entirely familiar 
with the prominent persons figuring in the drama. John H. 
Eaton, the second husband of our heroine, was a native of Ten- 
nessee, the chosen, and perhaps most intimate friend of Andrew 
- Jackson. He was in Congress from that State from 1818 to 1829, 
Secretary of War from 1829 to 1831, Governor of the Territory of 
Florida from 1834 to 1836 and. Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain 
from 1836 to 1840. He held in Washington some minor offices, 
and died here November 17, 1856, at the age of sixty-six. 


“Who is this wonderful woman? 
“HER OWN STORY. 


“We were kindly received by Mrs. Eaton in her parlors at 
338 Pennsylvania Avenue, where a frank statement was made her 
as to the purpose of the visit. She instantly and cheerfully com- 
plied with the request made of her saying that so much has been 
said about her that was entirely untrue she had become afraid and 
feared additional misrepresentation. Besides under the direction 
of her pastor in New York, Rev. Dr. Deems, her life was being 
written by a competent biographer, and when she should be dead 
it would be given to the world. However, when impressed with 
the fact that fair and truthful treatment was intended, Mrs. Eaton 
consented to the recall of some of the historical and deeply interest- 
ing memories of her active life. 

“Vou were born in this city, Mrs. Eaton?”’ 

“Ves sir; in 1799. I was just two weeks old when my notice 
sat up in bed to cue father’s hair for his attendance at Washing- 
ton’s funeral. Washington was often a guest at father’s house.’’ 

“Your maiden name was—?”’ 

“Margaret O’Neal. My father, Wm. O’Neal, was a wealthy 
man, and during girlhood days I never had cause for trouble or 
sorrow of any kind.”’ 

‘“‘And were you married young ?”’ 

“Ves, and very happily, too. My husband’s name was John 
Bowie Timberlake, and he was a purser in the Navy. My first 
child was born when I was seventeen, and in just thirteen months 
after my wedding day.” 

“Was it a boy?” 

“Yes; he died when six months ole. The second was a girl. 
She was named Virginia. She resides in Paris, where she mar- 


326 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HIsTorY 


ried Monsieur Sampayo, a Frenchman of distinction, but now 
dead. Virginia had a daughter, Blanche Marie, who also mar- 
ried a Frenchman of position and wealth. My third one was 
Margaret Timberlake. She married John Randolph, a grandson 
of old Dr. Brockenbrough, of Richmond, a great friend of John 
Randolph, of Roanoke. Through her, I have four grandchildren, 
George Chapman, named after the celebrated Dr. Chapman, of 
Philadelphia, John H. Eaton, Mary and Emily Randolph. My ~ 
domestic life was happy. It was as happy a marriage as ever was. 
Mr. Timberlake died abroad, at Port Mahon, in 1828.” 

“A natural death?” 

“I’m so glad you asked me that question. Yes, he died a 
natural death. A year or more previous to his death, and during 
great physical suffering, he made a slight and most ineffectual 
attempt at suicide, and that is all the foundation there is for the 
story that he did not die a natural death. His disease was the 
asthma. Just previous to his death he wrote me a sixteen page 
letter, addressed to 


“BONNIE MAGGIE LAUDER. 


That was one of his pet names for me. He was greatly respected 
by his brother officers, and they erected a handsome monument 
over his grave. He died with my miniature clasped in his hands. 
‘That was returned to me by Commodore Lavalette. In his will 
he left me all his property. His watch and ring he left to General 
Eaton. ‘They were warm personal friends. It was the General 
who brought me the news of his death, and for two weeks I never 
left my room to see any one. General Eaton had known us for a 
long time.” 

‘‘And when were you married to him?” 

“In, December, 1828, he made the offer of marriage in the 
presence of both father and mother. At that time the marriage 
did not attract malicious remark. It was only after General 
Eaton’s appointment the following March, as Secretary of War, 
that I began to feel the effects of the envy of women and to suffer 
from wholesale slander. I had been and was then flattered as a 
handsome woman. Was fond of society, gay as a lark, full of 
fun and nonsense; sometimes, maybe, a little original and lawless 
in my remarks, but, sir, before heaven and my God, as innocent 
of actual wrong to any one as an unborn babe.” 

‘‘Now, Mrs. Eaton, we come to the vital part of this conver- 
sation, and that a clear understanding may be had, tell us of your 
personal relations to General Jackson.”’ 

“It is simple enough. General Jackson and my father were 
friends before I was born. ‘You recollect he first came to the 
Senate soon after Tennessee was admitted as a State, and was 
there until 1798. He came again to the Senate in 1823, and was 
there two years. He was a boarder at my father’s house. My 
mother and Mrs. Jackson were so greatly attracted to each other 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 327 


and of course I was a favorite with them, and when I became the 
wife of General Eaton, Jackson’s dearest friend, why, of course 
he took greater interest in me, and for reasons and motives of the 
highest character he became, in the hour of trial, such a staunch 
defender as only Jackson could be.”’ 

“Well, now, what constituted these reasons and motives?” 

“You must recollect that General Jackson’s wife was a Mrs. 
Robards, and that his enemies did not hestitate to villify her char- 
acter, previous to and after her marriage to him. It is true she 
was not highly accomplished, nor fitted as an ornament to a draw- 
ing room, but she was a pure, virtuous, generous, high-souled 
woman, and none knew it so well as her brave husband. General 
Eaton was present at her marriage and we were both at the Hermi- 
tage when her funeral took place. It seemed as though the entire 
state was in mourning, and all her friends, including her servants, 
manifested the most poignant grief. General Jackson was wholly 
unnerved and inconsolable, for he loved his wife with all the strength 
and devotion of his soul. He believed that the stories—rather 
lies—told about her during the Presidential contest killed her, and 
from that moment he became the sworn and unyielding foe of all 
slanderers of women; and when they began to drag the name of 
Eaton through the mire—a name specially dear to him—he was 
naturally indignant. But this was by no means all. He saw in 
the attempt to ruin me an adverse influence against his adminis- 
tration, led and secretly worked by John C. Calhoun. 

“What was the nature of the slander against you?” 

“To be plain—that I was enciente after Timberlake had been 
gone a year at sea, and by General Eaton. A more monstrous 
lie was never told.” 

“Was there anything to base it on?” 

“Nothing, absolutely nothing. My mother and myself were 
invited to go out riding by General Eaton. It was a night previous 
to one of his departures for home and before we were married. 
When near Kalorama, the horses took fright, ran away, upset the 
carriage and threw us all out. When I got home I found myself 
badly bruised; was put to bed, and Dr. Craven was sent for. When 
he came father and mother were present in my chamber. It was 
alleged that I said, “Doctor, if you had come sooner you might 
have seen a little John H. Eaton; but I never made any such re- 
mark.”’ 

“Who started that slander?’ 


“Tt came about in this way. For the present I omit references 
to the ladies of the Cabinet. I shall tell you of them by and by. 
There was one Rev. J. N. Campbell here who was pastor of a 
Presbyterian church, who intermeddled with the affair, joined the 
gossip against me, and did all he could to blast my reputation. 
He supposed that General Jackson would attend his church and 
that he could have influence over him. He told the Rev. E. S. 
Ely, of Philadelphia, a budget of lies about me, and induced him 


328 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to communicate the same to General Jackson in a letter. That 
is the same Rev. Ely whose daughter is now connected with the 
scandal of the robbery of the diamonds by the Grand Duke of 
Russia, and who once found A BABY IN A BASKET on his 
doorstep in the morning, with a note asking him, as its father, to 
take care of it. He is also the man who had the original Quaker 
vision.” 

“Quaker vision! what was that?” 

“Why, you see, he was always stirring up strife and dissention, 
and he published a little pamphlet telling the story of a vision of 
his; how he dreamed that he died and went to hell—all over it, and 
at every turn he met a member of the society of friends, but in all 
its realm could not find a single Presbyterian. That was the 
substance of it. Some time after that a Quaker published his 
vision. He, too, dreamed that he died and went to hell, and though 
he wandered up and down, all around and everywhere, and met 
members of all denominations, he was greatly surprised at not 
meeting with any Presbyterians. At last he saw a man of tremen- 
dous proportions, having on his head a crown and in his handa 
sceptre, and seated ona throne blazing with crimson. He ventured 
to tell this king of hell what the matter was, whereupon the king 
commanded him to follow where he led. He was taken in a round- 
about way through long, dark caverns, the air growing hotter at 
every step and filled with denser volume of sulphurous smell. 
At last they arrived at a plane, which had a trap-door, which the 
king opened, and immediately there burst out forked and furious 
flames and high up in the air flew great clouds of dust and cinders, 
mingled with horrible shrieks. ‘This, said the king,’ is the home 
of the Presbyterians. On earth they are so full of fire and brim- 
stone that they would make any respectable place in hell too hot 
for decent folks.’ But we wander from the subject.” 


“Yes, Parton, in his life of Jackson, refers to that letter.” 

“Indeed! What does he say?” 

“Why, he says that Ely wrote Jackson that you instructed 
your servants to call your children Eaton, not Timberlake.” 

“Great heavens! I never heard of that before. So help me 
God, I never did anything of the kind. It is a base, unmitigated 
lie. What else did the wretch say?” 

“He said that you and General Eaton traveled together, and 
registered at hotels as man and wife before you were married to 
him.”’ . 

‘’This is too much sir. Put that down asa lie. It is the first 
time I ever heard of having traveled anywhere previous to marriage 
with General Eaton more than once, and that was to New York 
and Mr. Timberlake and my father were with us.” 

“THE LETTER. 

“Tt is proper to say here, as a matter of history, that this letter 
of Ely’s was written to General Jackson, March 18, 1829, soon after 
the formation of the Cabinet. Jackson replied to it, stating 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 329 


that from personal knowledge he knew most of the charges to be 
entirely false, and in his heart of hearts, he believed them all to be. 
He did not rest, however, without seeking in every way to dis- 
prove them, and according to Mr. Parton, he sent a confidential 
person to New York to inspect the hotel registers. This, though, 
needs strong confirmation, but Mr. Parton adds that his zeal in 
behalf of Mrs. Eaton was fired by the keen recollections of how 
his own wife suffered by similar aspersions. To resume: 


“When you found out what Ely had done, what did you do?”’ 

“T went with my father and mother to Philadelphia, and leav- 
ing them at a hotel, I sought a friend of mine by the name of Brad- 
ford and went with him to Mr. Ely’s house, and calling him to the 
parlor, demanded of him the source of his information. He said 
he could not give it. Very well said I, I shall not leave your house 
till I get it. He turned to Mr. Bradford and said, come, let us 
walk in the garden. No sir; you do not leave my presence until 
I have your author. You pretend to be a Christian minister. 
You have basely wronged an innocent woman, and have got to tell 
me from whom you obtained your information. After further 
parleying and angry discussions he told me that he got it from the 
Rev. Campbell. I then told him it was all a wicked lie, and vowed 
that he should suffer for it. Returning to Washington, and 
without taking off my things, I went directly to Mr. Campbell’s 
house, and found him in his parlor with my husband, who didn’t 
know that I had been to Philadelphia on this business. I told 
him what I had learned in Philadelphia and asked him what ob- 
ject he had in filching from me my good name. Campbell pro- 
posed to have a witness to the conversation; said it was important, 
and I thought so too. Just then Col. Towson, an old gray-headed 
officer, came in, and we both agreed he should be the witness. 
In a moment I discovered that he was as deep in the mire as the 
other was in the mud, and that it would be necessary to have the 
dates; so we sent to the Navy Department for a record of the time 
of the sailing of the Shark,. Towson’s and Campbell’s dates did 
not agree, and then Towson made an attempt to alter the dates 
in the book to make their story fit. When I saw Towson doing 
that I exclaimed, Great God! I am undone. The man whom I 
supposed was a friend was proving an enemy. ‘Then Major Eaton 
said: Sir, you must answer for this, and made an attempt to get at 
Campbell. I seized him by the arm and prevented a collision. 
I fainted and fell, striking my head against the sofa. It was then 
that Campbell made use of the remark, ‘ Would to God I never 
had anything to do with this,’ and that he got the story from Dr. 
Craven. I found out from friends and neighbors that Campbell 
had been moving heaven and earth for proofs against me. He had 
even been to my laundress and to my mantau-maker, Mrs. Wil- 
liams. Her husband was a sailmaker in the first ward. He was 
told by Mr. Williams that he had better get out of his house or he 
would kick him out. Now Dr. Craven was dead, and I could not 


330 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


speak to him in his grave; so I went to his pastor, Rev. Obadiah 
Brown. Mr. and Mrs. Brown both averred that Dr. Craven had 
never said anything of the kind to them; on the contrary, that he 
had spoken very kindly of me just previous to his death, and re- 
ferred to a pot of preserves and bottle of old port wine that I sent 
him when he was sick. But, sir, the poison had gone into the 
veins of my enemies, and it was hard to cure them of their madness; 
but little did I dream of the political significance of these things. 
I was only thinking of the wanton lies as they personally affected 
qe. 

“Now Madame, let us return to the Cabinet. What did the 
ladies do?” 

“I was quite as independent as they and had more powerful 
friends. To tell the truth, Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. 
Branch and Mrs. Ingham were a very indifferent set, and if half 
the stories about the latter were true she was quite as bad as they 
tried to make me out. None of them had beauty, accomplish- 
ments, or graces in society of any kind, and for these reasons—I say . 
it without egotism—they were very jealous of me. Mrs. Donelson 
was a poor, silly thing, and was not much cured of her nonsense 
by a six months’ trip to Tennessee. Mrs Branch was particularly 
noticeable as a first-class dowdy, and it was a great relief not to 
be obliged to entertain any of the set a great deal. Mrs. Ingham, 
was a large, coarse, brawling creature, raised too suddenly into a 
position she little knew how to fill. She never called on me nor 
Mrs. Branch either. Mrs. Calhoun, with her husband, called once 
during my absence in Philadelphia. Mr. Eaton and myself re- 
turned the call. We were politely, not warmly received. After 
a few days Duff Green’s paper, the Telegraph, said Mrs. Calhoun 
had not called on me. Martin Van Buren was a widower and a 
great friend of mine, and gave many handsome entertainments 
in my honor, and so were the Barrys and all Géneral Jackson’s 
real friends, and at State dinners I always received most deferen- 
tial notice. The stories about my being cut in society are grossly 
exaggerated. Sir Charles Vaughn, the British Minister, was a 
warm friend, and at his ball and receptions I had many honors.” 

‘We have read that at one of Baron Krudener’s balls, the 
wife of the Minister from Holland, Mrs. Huygens deliberately 
cut you. Parton tells the story.” 

“T do not recollect the ball at all, and as for Madame Huygens, 
she never gave me an affront in public or anywhere else, to my 
knowledge; but the Inghams, Branches, Calhouns, Berriens and 
their friends could invent you anything. I was with my friends— 
the President, Van Buren, the Barrys, my husband, and the host 
with them. Minnie Bankhead, whose husband was Secretary of 
the British Legation, was a great friend of mine. Her mother, 
Lady Paul, sent me from London a beautiful set of cameos. 

“IT recollect another incident. Jackson had appointed Gen. 
Eaton Minister to France. The rumor was immediately started 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 331 


that it was for the purpose of enabling me to go out of the country. 
At one of Sir Charles Vaughn's balls a Mrs. Pleasanton came up 
to me, and in most obseqious manner congratulated me, and 
asked to have her son taken abroad with us. I knew that Mrs. 
Pleasanton had been an active enemy. Soon as I could I said to 
General Eaton: ‘Darling, are you going to France?’ He replied: 
“You say you will not go.’ I told him I would never leave the 
soil of America until nine months were passed in the presence of 
my enemies, and open proof given of the lies they had told. 
General Jackson and my husband both complimented me for the 
decision, and Jackson said it suggested a thought which had not 
occurred to him before.” 

“You were accused of making most of his appointments.” 

“Yes, they said that. But I never made but two appoint- 
ments during General Jackson’s administration. One was for 
humanity and the other at solicitation of friends. The first was 
a son of the widow Coolidge, who kept a boarding house in the 
First Ward, and was hunted down by everybody for some indis- 
cretion. The appointment was made by Major Barry. The other, 
Mr. Cooper, was appointed purser in the navy, and becamie one 
of my worst traducers.”’ 

“Were you agreeably situated in Spain?” 

“Very much so. We resided in the beautiful home of the 
Duke St. Lorenzo. His duchess had just died when we reached 
Madrid. We received much attention from Queen Christina. 
Virginia was a great favorite of hers, and she gave her a blooded 
King Charles spaniel, which was brought home. There, thank 
God, I was beyond the reach of venom, and Middleton, the private 
secretary of the Embassy, remarked that my name was always 
referred to in the cafes and public places in terms of the greatest 
respect. I gave many balls, some of them very grand ones, and 
which all the nobility attended. We also went to most of the 
bull fights. At the first one we were chaperoned by Lady Carmine, 
who was a sister of the Duke of Larenzo. She carried with her 
all sorts of perfumes, a thing afterwards never neglected by us. 
The Queen was present and gave her royal consent for the bulls to 
to be killed. During this fight not only all the bulls were killed, 
but four men—matadores—were carried out of the arena dead. 
Our colored coachman was present, and he literally turned as 
white as a sheet. General Eaton himself was a good deal affected, 
and nearly fainted away. I showed symptons of alarm, too. The 
Spaniards were perfectly delighted to see us so badly frightened, 
and went wild with waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of hands. 
But you ought to see those high born dames handle a fan. They 
can fairly make one talk outright.” 

““The Sunday Capital of recent date stated that you were at 
the Louise Home?” 

“Quite as true as the balance of the statements in that article 
I was never at the Louise Home in my life, though, perhaps, I 
would not object to a residence there.”’ 


332 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HisTorY 


“ANTONIO BUCHIGNANI. N 


“Mrs. Eaton, with evident pain, rehearsed the story of her last 
marriage, and with an Italian adventurer by the name of Antonio 
Buchignani, who managed to deprive her of all her property and 
then to run away with her grand-daughter, Emily Randolph. 
She was a rich woman. Mr. Timberlake left her all his property. 
General Eaton left her a large fortune, and her mother left her all 
her property, but Buchignani stripped her of the last cent by one 
device and then another, and has left her in her age desolate and 
dependent for support upon her male grandchildren. Buchignani 
afterwards married Emily Randolph, but where they are now she 
does not know. She had heard that Buchignani is dead, and the 
last seen of Emily she was traveling West with two children. This 
part of her history has neither public interest nor importance.”’ 


JACKSON, VAN BUREN AND CALHOUN 


‘“The reader now has a clear idea of the nature of the scandals 
affecting Mrs. Eaton, and is also made aware of the fact that the 
President, in espousing her cause, was necessarily involved in op- 
position to her enemies. Van Buren was her most active and in- 
. fluential friend in the Cabinet, and at that early day aspired to the 
Presidency. Calhoun was her most influential enemy, and had 
the same aspirations attributed to Van Buren. In further conver- 
sation with Mrs. Eaton the following facts were elicited, and the 
nature of them will be, perhaps, better understood by throwing 
them into the narrative form: Besides the persons named above, 
Mrs. Eaton had the special friendship of Amos Kendall, Isaac Hill, 
Dr. Randolph and others. Duff Green, the editor of the United 
States Telegraph, was the champion of Calhoun, and hence op- 
posed to her. So interested was General Jackson in Van Buren 
for the succession that as early as the latter part of 1829 he wrote 
a letter to Judge Overton, carefully commending Van Buren, and 
speaking the lost confidence in Calhoun, and in 1830, Jackson 
openly told his friends thatCalhoun was moulding influence against 
Van Buren. Of course the Cabinet was wanting in anything like 
harmony, and some times for months together General Eaton held 
nothing but strictly official intercourse with Messrs. Ingham, 
Branch and Berrien. The President, iron-nerved as he was, 
could not stand this sort of a thing, and he resolved on its harmony 
or dissolution. After a determined effort on his part matters be- 
came a little better, and for something more than a year there was 
some show of decent feeling, but after all Jackson saw very little 
of the three, Ingham, Branch and Berrien, and Cabinet meetings 
almost wholly ceased. But in the meantime Van Buren wonder- 
fully increased his influence. Circumstances transpired which 
made the breach between Jackson and Calhoun a ‘ bloody chasm’ 
which nothing could bridge.’ It was then that Duff Green’s 
open disaffection was proclaimed in the Telegraph. This led to 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EHarRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 333 


the establishment of the Globe, with Francis P. Blair, senior, as its 
editor. It took the place of the Telegraph as the organ of the 
administration. The President got rid of Ingham, Branch and 
Berrien, through the agreed upon resignations of Van Buren and 
Eaton. This was in December, 1830. ‘The first change in the 
Cabinet was made, and the new one—Edward Livingston, Louis 
Mclean, Levi Woodbury, Lewis Cass and Roger B. Taney, was 
confirmed at the following session of Congress. Van Buren was 
nominated as Minister to England, but rejected by the casting vote 
of Calhoun, for he believed Van Buren had conspired with and led 
the President in opposition to himself. ‘That vote settled Calhoun 
and made Van Buren President. ‘The influence of Mrs. Eaton was 
here most signally illustrated. ‘The veto of the bank bill, the his- 
tory of nullification, the removal of the deposits and the French 
imbroglio, and other great events of Jackson’s administeration, 
fill out the decade. In nullification Calhoun was the conspicious 
and central object. Had he not been thwarted in his early and 
original schemes, he might have succeeded. It was fatal to all 
his plans that he incurred the anger of Jackson, which was first 
kindled against him by his close association with Mrs. Eaton’s 
enemies.”’ 


“MRS. EATON AT SEVENTY-FIVE. 


“This paper would hardly be complete without a personal 
description of this wonderfully gifted woman. In the full bloom of 
her early womanhood, Margaret O’Neal was a perfect beauty. 
Her crowning glory was a rich full suit of dark brown hair, shadow- 
ing a forehead low, broad and deep, and impressive with keen, 
intellectual, natural strength, and hiding eyes of intensest blue, 
beaming, sparkling with fun and life, and changing like a kalei- 
doscope, with every passing, varying passion and fancy. Her 
nose, thoroughly Grecian, in its style, and yet most expressive of 
its Irish blood, was harmonious, with a beautifully curved mouth 
and a firm, well-set chin. In form and figure she was a model 
of grace itself, and in her step ‘she revealed the true goddess.’ 
To-day even she is still a beautiful woman, an old-time lady, one 
of the ancient regime, who looks as if she had just stepped out of a 
revolutionary frame, heavy; with gold and marginal scrolls, to 
remind the devotees of the intoxicating German of to-day of the 
old history of our republican court. Girls of seventeen, in a maze 
regarding the morality of statesrhen, brass buttons, naval and 
marine shoulder knots, could hardly fail of a little sound advice 
if they had the privilege of taking a moment with Mrs. Eaton. 
To-day at the age of seventy-five, and when at all excited, her 
beautiful, bright fiery eyes gleam and sparkle with original fire. 
Her white, rosy though furrowed face, lights up with a warm, 
passionate glow, and her whole being is instinct with that mag- 
netism which once the greatest dignitaries of the Government 
obeyed. Her character is best summed up in the words pluck, 


334 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


game, hateur, care for No. 1, quality, blood, and if we were un- 
fortunate enough to be a woman, we would hesitate, even now, 
about a collision with her. And yet she is a white-haired old lady. 
Her gray curls twine about her noble forehead like “ silvery seething 
waters.’ They lap and kiss furrows and channels, hollowed by a 
long and memorable life. She is a woman, in her later life, of 
‘ gloomy yesterdays and dim tomorrows,’ but here and there dying 
sunbeams, playing about her classical features, light up with 
beauty a splendid soul prepared to meet its God.” 

“It is no wonder that her name has occupied so much space 
and that she has been the subject of fiercest controversy. ?” 


But if the conduct of Berrien was weak and hypocritical, what 
shall be said of two preachers, Rev. E. S. Ely of Philadelphia and 
Rev. J. N. Campbell of Washington, who, without any other basis 
than the gossip of Washington, undertook to eliminate Mrs. Eaton 
from the favorable opinion of General Jackson, and to crush her 
in the opinion of her political friends, as they and others were 
trying to out-law her socially. 

Campbell was afraid to make charges against Mrs. Eaton in 
his own proper person directly to Jackson. He preferred to beard 
the Jackson lion in his den from a long ways off. So he got another 
preacher, Rev. E. S. Ely, to write to Jackson and open the war. 
Ely and Campbell make a precious pair of clerical hyenas—two 
of a kind. Ely wrote to Jackson and made the following charges 
against Mrs. Eaton without a scintilla of evidence to base it on 
except current social and political gossip: 1, Mrs. Eaton bore a 
bad reputation in Washington from girlhood; 2, the ladies of 
Washington would not speak to her; 3, a gentleman at the 
table at Gadsby’s said that he personally knew her to be a disso- 
lute woman; 4, Mrs. Eaton had told her servants to call her 
children Eaton and not Timberlake as Eaton was their rightful 
name; 5, a clergyman of Washington had told Mr. Ely that a 
deceased doctor had told him that Mrs. Timberlake had a mis- 
carriage when her husband had been absent a year; 6, that 
friends of Major Eaton had persuaded him to board elsewhere to 
get him away from Mrs. Timberlake; 7, that Mrs. Jackson 
entertained the worst opinion of Mrs. Timberlake; 8, that 
Major Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake registered as man and wife 
in hotels in New York City and elsewhere. 

This letter of Ely’s was dated March 18, 1829, and Jackson sent 
a reply on March 23, 1829, that riddled it. Further letters passed 
and Jackson demanded of Ely the name of the person who had in- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 335 


formed him of the charges. Ely then wrote to Mr. Campbell and 
asked him to call on General Jackson and tell him all he knew. 
Now if such a thing were possible, Campbell was a dirtier and more 
despicable slanderer than Ely. He called on Jackson who wrote 
out an account of the interview and shows that the sum total of 
all he could tell against Mrs. Eaton was what he had heard others 
say. On September 10, 1829, Jackson called his Cabinet together 
and invited Ely and Campbell to be present. Both came and, 
curiously enough, Ely admitted that there was no evidence to 
convict Major Eaton of wrong doing, and this admission not 
withstanding the fact that Eaton was the only man Mrs. Eaton's 
name had been connected with in an improper way. Ely also 
reported that he had investigated the hotel charge in New York 
City and found there was nothing in it. 

Campbell and Jackson had some spirited clashes but nothing 
could induce Campbell to give the name of any witness as to wrong- 
doing by Mrs. Eaton or to produce any testimony of any kind. 
He had none to produce and could get none. Jackson had nothing 
further to do with Mr. Campbell’s church, for which all just men 
honor him. 

Martin Van Buren in his autobiography, page 364, makes this 
sage comment: 


“Was it possible that gentlemen who sincerely thought Mrs. 
Eaton unfit for the society of Washington could deem it proper to 
place her at the head of that one of our territories—certainly not 
the least polished or moral of our communities! [wo years after- 
wards Eaton’s name is again sent to the Senate to represnt the 
country abroad as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary at the Court of Spain and in the circles of Madrid and 
again confirmed by the Senate, without a division—a Senate of 
which Messrs. Clay, Calhoun and Webster were members. Are 
not these striking commentaries upon the hue and cry that was 
raised against this couple when they were supposed favorites of 
General Jackson, and suspected of favoring my elevation to the 
Presidency, whose fate it was after all to bear the brunt of their 
hostility.” 


Mrs. Eaton lived till 1879 and died in Washington and was 
buried in Oak Hill Cemetery where Major Eaton was buried. 
He also died in Washington and in the year 1856. 

While the war on Mrs. Eaton undoubtedly injured her 
socially, it did not crush or ostracise her. One of the unexpected 
results of this war was the total annihilation of any chance John 


336 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


C. Calhoun had to become President of the United States. In 
the results of this war of slander, the woman got the best of the 
politician. 

Jackson’s devotion to her cause of course made Mrs. Eaton a 
worshipper at his shrine. In her latter years the question was 
put to her ‘“‘What do you think of Andrew Jackson asa man?” “A 
man?” shereplied. ‘‘He was not a man, he wasa god.” 

No part of Andrew Jackson’s career makes a stronger appeal 
to the manhood of America than his grand devotion to Peggy 
O’Neal. Nowhere else does the chivalry that was innate in him 
appear with finer lustre. Intellectually he did not owe a great 
deal to books or schools, but nature made up for the lack of these 
in a mind that was keen, alert and bright and which could promptly 
detect the real from the bogus, the counterfeit from the genuine. 
He saw that the real bone of contention was not Mrs. Eaton’s 
purity or the lack of it, but just a game of politics by politicians 
who were willing to do some dirty work to gain theirends. Hesaw 
and exposed the two preachers, Ely and Campbell, and they will 
stay on the pages of history as objects of contempt as long as 
mankind despises human carrion birds as they were. 

As time went on the trend of events lead Major Eaton to chal- 
lenge Mr. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury, but Ingham declined 
the challenge. It was in reference to his declining to meet Eaton 
that Mrs. Eaton made her famous remark that “all Mr. Ingham 
needed was petticoats.” 

Major Eaton resigned as Secretary of War on April 7, 1831, 
and the following was the correspondence with General Jackson: 


EATON TO JACKSON. 


‘Washington City, 7th of April, 1831. 
“Dear Sir: 


“Four days ago I communicated to you my desire to relinquish 
the duties of the War Department, and I now take occasion to 
repeat the request which was then made. I am not disposed by 
any sudden withdrawal, to interrupt or retard the business of the 
office. A short time will be sufficient, I hope, to enable you to 
direct your attention towards some person, in whose capacity, 
industry, and friendly disposition, you may have confidence, to 
assist in the complicated and laborious duties of your administra- 
tion. .T'wo or three weeks, perhaps less, may be sufficient for the 
purpose. 

“In coming to this conclusion, candor demands of me to say 
that it arises from no dissatisfaction entertained towards you— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 337 


from no misunderstanding between us, on any subject; nor from 
any diminution, on my part, of that friendship and confidence, 
which has ever been reposed in you. 

“T entered your Cabinet, as is well known to you, contrary to 
my own wishes; and having nothing to desire, either as it regards 
myself or friends, have ever since cherished a. determination to 
avail myself of the first favorable moment, after your administra- 
tion should be in successful operatorion, to retire. It occurs to 
me, that the time is now at hand, when I may do so with propriety, 
and in proper respect to you. Looking to the present state of 
things—to the course of your administration, which, being fairly 
developed, is before the people, for approval or condemnation—I 
cannot consider the step Iam taking, objectionable, or, that it is 
one, the tendency of which can be to affect or injure a course of 
policy by you already advantageously commenced, and which I 
hope will be carried out to the benefit and advancement of the 
people. 

“Tendering my sincere wishes for your prosperity and hap- 
piness, and for your successful efforts in the cause of your country, 

“T am, very truly, your friend, 

“J. H. Eaton. 
“To Andrew Jackson, 
“President of the United States. 


JACKSON TO EATON. 
“Washington City, April 8, 1831. 
“Dear Sir: 

“Your letter of yesterday was received, and I have carefully 
considered it. When you conversed with me the other day, on the 
subject of your withdrawing from the Cabinet, I expressed to you 
a sincere desire that you would well consider of it; for, however 
reluctant I am to be deprived of your services, I cannot consent to 
retain you contrary to your wishes, and inclination to remain, 
particularly as I well know that in 1829, when I invited you to be- 
come a member of my Cabinet, you objected, and expressed a 
desire to be excused, and only gave up your objections at my 
pressing solicitation. 

“An acquaintance with you, of twenty years standing, assured 
me, that, in your honesty, prudence, capacity, discretion, and judg- 
ment, I could safely rely and confide. I have not been disappoint- 
ed. With the performance of your duties, since you have been 
with me, I have been fully satisfied, and, go where you will, be 
your destiny what it may, my best wishes will always attend you. 

“T will avail myself of the earliest opportunity to obtain some 
qualified friend to succeed you; and, until then, I must solicit 
that the acceptance of your resignation be deferred. 

“Tam, very sincerely and respectfully, your friend, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Major J. H. Eaton, 
““Secretary of War.” 


22 


338 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


MR. EATON TO MR. INGHAM. 


“Friday night, June 17th, 1831. 

pisjtae 

“TI have studied to disregard the abusive slanders which have 
arisen through so debased a source as the columns of the U. S. 
Telegraph. I have been content to wait the full development of 
what he had to say; and until persons of responsible character 
should be brought forth to endorse his vile abuse of me and my 
family. In that paper of this evening is contained the following 
remark of my wife: ‘ It is proven that the Secretaries of the Treas- 
ury and of the Navy and of the Attorney-General refused to asso- 
ciate with her.’ This publication appears in a paper which pro- 
fesses to be friendly to you and is brought forth under your im- 
mediate eye. I desire to know of you whether or not you sanction 
or will disavow it. The relation we have sustained towards each 
other authroizes me to demand an immediate answer. 

“Very respectfully, 

“y. Hi atone 
“S. D. Ingham, Esq.” 
REPLY 


“Washington, 18th June, 1831. 
isis 
“T have not been able to ascertain whether it is the publication 
referred to by you, or the fact stated in the Telegraph, which you 
desire to know whether I have sanctioned or will disavow. If it 
be the first you demand, it is too absurd to merit an answer. If 
it be the last, you may find authority for the same fact in a Phil- 
adelphia paper, about the first of April last, which is deemed to be 
quite as friendly to you as the Telegraph may be to me. When 
you have settled such accounts with your particular friends 
it will be time enough to make demands of others. In the mean- 
time, I take the occasion to say, that you must be not a little 
deranged, to imagine that any blustering of yours could induce me 
to disavow what all the inhabitants of this city know, and perhaps 
half of the people of the United States believe to be true. 
“Tam, sir, respectfully yours, &c. 
“S. D. Ingham. 
“John H. Eaton, Esq.” 


MR. EATON TO MR. INGHAM. 


“June 1Stheaie 

ise 

“IT have received your letter of to-day, and regret to find that 
to a frank and candid inquiry brought before you, an answer im- 
pudent and insolent is returned. ‘To injury unprovoked, you are 
pleased to add insult. What is the remedy? It is to indulge the 
expectation that, though a man may be mean enough to slander, 
or base enough to encourage it, he yet may have bravery sufficient 


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ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 339 


to repair the wrong. In that spirit I demand of you satisfaction — 
for the wrong and injury you done me. Your answer must de- 
termine whether you are so far entitled to the name and character 
of a gentleman as to be able to act like one. 

“Very respectfully, 

“John H. Eaton. 
“Sam’l D. Ingham, Esq.” 
REPLY 

“Washington, June 20th, 1831. 
ME: 

“Your note of Saturday, purporting to be a demand of satis- 
faction for injury done to you, was received on that day; company 
prevented me from sending you an immediate answer. Yesterday 
morning, your brother-in-law, Dr. Randolph, intruded himself 
into my room, with a threat of personal violence. I perfectly 
understand the part you are made to play in the farce now acting 
before the American people. I am not to be intimidated by 
threats, or provoked by abuse, to any act inconsistent with the 
pity and contempt which your condition and conduct inspire. 

“Yours, Sir, respectfully, 

“S. D. Ingham. 
“John H. Eaton, Esq. 


MR. EATON TO MR. INGHAM. 


“June 20th, 1831 
pit : 

“Your note of this morning is received. It proves to me that 
you are quite brave enough to do a mean action, but too great a 
coward to repair it. Your contempt I heed not; your pity I de- 
spise. It is such contemptible fellows as yourself that have set 
forth rumors of their own creation, and taken them asa ground of 
imputation against me. If that be good cause, then should you 
have pity of yourself, for your wife has not escapted them and you 
must know it. But no more;here our correspondence closes. 
Nothing more will be received short of an acceptance of my demand 
of Saturday, and nothing more be said by me until face to face we 
meet. It is not in my nature to brook your insults, nor will they 
be submitted to. 

“John H. Eaton. 
*“S. D. Ingham, Esq.” 


MR. INGHAM TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
“Washington, 21st June, 1831. 
“The President of the United States: 
pit: 

“Before I leave the city, it seems to be due to the Government 
that I should perform a painful duty, imposed upon me by the 
events of the last forty-eight hours. It is not necessary for me now 
to detail the circumstances which have convinced me of the ex- 


340 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


istence of vindictive personal hostility to me among some of the 
officers of the Government near your person, and supposed to be 
in your special confidence, which has been particularly developed 
within the last two weeks, and has finally displayed itself in an at- 
tempt to way-lay me on my way to the office yesterday, as I have 
reason to believe, for the purpose of assassination. If you have 
not already been apprised of these movements, you may perhaps 
be surprised to learn that the persons concerned in them are the 
late Secretary of War and the acting Secretary of War: and that 
the Second Auditor of the Treasury, Register of the Treasury, and 
the Treasurer of the United States, were in their company; and 
that the Treasurer’s and Register’s rooms, in the lower part of the 
building of the Treasury Department, and also a grocery store 
between my lodgings and the office, were alternately occupied as 
their rendezvous while lying in wait; the former affording the best 
opportunity for observing my approach. Apprised of these move- 
ments on my return from taking leave of some of my friends, I 
found myself obliged to arm, and, accompanied by my son and 
some other friends, I repaired to the office, to finish the business 
of the day, after which I returned to my lodgings in the same 
company. It is proper to state, that the principal persons who 
had been thus employed for several hours retired from the De- 
partment soon after I entered my room, and that I received no 
molestation from them either at my ingress or egress. But, having 
recruited an additional force in the evening, they paraded until a 
a late hour on the streets near by lodgings, heavily armed, threaten- 
ing an assault on the dwelling I reside in. 

“I do not present these facts to your notice for the purpose of 
invoking your protection. So far as an individual may rely on 
his own personal efforts I am willing to meet this peril; and against 
an assault by numbers I have found an ample assurance of pro- 
tection in the generous tender of personal service from the citizens 
of Washington. But they are communicated to you as the Chief 
Magistrate of the United States, and most especially of the District 
of Columbia, whose duties in maintaining good order among its 
inhabitants, and protecting the officers of the Government in the 
discharge of their duties, cannot be unknown to you. 

“T have only to add that, so far as I am informed, all the per- 
sons engaged in giving countenance to this business are officers of 
the Government, except the late Secretary of War. 

“TI have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

“S. D. Ingham.” 
THE PRESIDENT TO 

“Messrs. Col. Campbell, Treasurer; Major Smith, Register; 
Doctor Randolph, Acting Secretary of War, and Major Lewis, 
Auditor. 

“Gentlemen: 

“T have this moment received the enclosed letter from Mr. 

Ingham, dated the 21st instant and having immediately, on its 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 341 


receipt, sent to ask an interview with him, I find that he left the 
city before it reached me. I wish you to state to me, if you, or 
either of you, have had any agency or participation, and if any, 
to what extent in the alleged misconduct imputed in his letter 
herewith enclosed. 

“T surely have been deceived in your characters if you are cap- 
able of so far forfeiting the responsibilities of your stations as to 
participate in the reprehensible conduct charged. To the serious 
charges contained in Mr. Ingham’s letter, which gave me the first 
information that I have had upon the subject of his difficulties, I 
wish you to give me a prompt and explicit answer. 

“Respectfully, 
“Andrew Jackson. 


MR. CAMPBELL TO THE PRESIDENT. 


‘Washington, June 22, 1831. 
“Sir: 

“TJ have had the honor to receive your communication of this 
day, enclosing a copy of a letter to you from the late Secretary 
of the Treasury of the 21st instant, complaining of an attempt to 
way-lay him on the part of certain officers of the Government, for 
the purpose of assassination, and charging me with being in their 
company, and my room in the Treasury with being alternately 
occupied with other officers as a rendezvous for them while lying in 
wait. It might perhaps be sufficient for the purpose for which you 
have referred this communication to me,for me to apply to the 
charges against me, a simple and unqualified denial. They are 
entirely destitute of the least foundation in truth; but to show 
you more clearly how far I was from aiding or participating in 
anything connected with this matter complained of, I will beg your 
permission to add the following circumstances. The late Secre- 
tary of War, Major Eaton never consulted me upon the subject 
of his controversy with Mr. Ingham; nor did I ever see him on the 
day in question, except in an accidental meeting of a few minutes. 
I never saw the correspondence between them until it appeared in 
the Telegraph, and although I had heard that a correspondence was 
going on which might result in a personal conflict, I did not believe 
it was likely to take place on that day, or even that Washington was 
to be the scene of it. 

“Trusting that these facts and explanations will be entirely 
satisfactory to you, I cannot withold the expression of my astonish- 
ment, that charges so wholly uncalled for and groundless, should 
have been made against me by a gentleman with whom I never 
had the least cause of quarrel, and with whom my official inter- 
course, since my entrance into the Treasury, had uniformly been 
of the most friendly character. I certainly had no idea of arming 
against him, or of interfering in any way in his dispute with Major 
Eaton. 

“T have the honor to remain your most obedient servant, 

“John Campbell. 
“The President of the United States.” 


342 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


MR. LEWIS TO THE PRESIDENT. 


“Washington, 22nd June, 1831. 

visyoqs 

“Your letter of this morning has this moment been received, 
and in reply I have to say that the charge made against me by Mr. 
Ingham of having been engaged in a conspiracy against him, is 
devoid of truth. If there were any such conspiracy against him 
as alleged in his letter to you of yesterday, it was entirely unknown 
to me. 


“I arrived at my office on Monday morning, 20th instant, 
about half past eight o’clock, and never left the building until 
about half after two, when I walked down to the U. S. Bank to at- 
tend to some Bank business. After seeing the Teller of the Bank, 
and informing him what I wanted done, I went to a barber’s shop 
a little below Mr. Strothers’s Hotel. On my return I called at the 
Register’s Office, a few minutes before three o’clock, where I saw, 
unexpectedly, Mr. Eaton, it being the first time I had seen him 
since last Saturday evening. I remained in the Register’s Office 
about five minutes, and then walked up to my own office in company 
with no other person than Mr. Eaton. Dr. Randolph was not 
there, nor did I see him anywhere on that day, out of the War 
Office, until late in the evening. , I neither saw nor heard of Mr. 
Ingham while I was at the Treasury Department I had no arms 
of any description about me. 

“Tam, very respectfully, 

“Your most obedient servant, 


“W.B. Lewis.” 


MR. SMITH TO THE PRESIDENT. 
“Washington, June 22, 1831. 


“In reply to your note of today, enclosing a copy of a letter from 
Mr. Ingham to you, bearing date the 21st instant. I beg leave to 
state, that the charges contained in Mr. Ingham’s letter, as far 
as they relate to me, are wholly untrue. I have had no partici- 
pation or agency, whatever, in the controversy between Maj. 
Eaton and Mr. Ingham. I have given neither aid nor succor to 
Major Eaton, nor any one for him. I have not walked with him, 
near him. I have not sought Mr. Ingham, nor been in the neigh- 
borhood. I have been unarmed constantly, and in all respects 
I have been unconnected with anything that threatened his safety. 
As to the charge that my office was used for any such purposes 
as are named by Mr. Ingham, it is not less untrue than 
the rest of the statement. Major Eaton was in my office twice, 
once between ten and eleven o'clock, and once about fifteen minutes 
before three, each time he came alone, and did not remain more than 
ten minutes. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 343 


“T regret, Sir, that Mr. Ingham, in making charges off{such 
grave import, had not thought proper to refer to the authority 
upon which he based his allegations, and awaited the issue before 
he left the city. 

“With the highest respect, your obedient servant, 

“TY. 1. Smith. 
“To the President. 


MR. RANDOLPH TO THE PRESIDENT. 
“Washington, 22nd June, 1831. 
“Sir: 

“Tn answer to your letter of this date, asking the extent of my 
participation in the controversy lately passed between Mr. Ingham 
and Major Eaton, and how far I am amenable to the charges made 
by Mr. Ingham against me, in his letter of yesterday, I have to 
reply, that I had no further agency in the matter than is shown in 
the correspondence between those gentlemen, as published in the 
Telegraph on Tuesday last. I was not with Major Eaton more 
than ten minutes at any one time between 9 and 3 o’clock on 
Monday, on which day, the charge of a combination for the pur- 
pose of assassinating Mr. Ingham is made by him against me 
and others. I did not participate in, nor did I know of any design 
to attack Mr. Ingham’s residence as is charged by him, nor was I 
armed at any time during the hours mentioned, having no appre- 
hension of danger from Mr. Ingham or those ‘ friends,’ whom he 
says surrounded him. Major Eaton was alone when he sought an 
interview with Mr. Ingham, as will be shown by the certificates 
of two respectable individuals. 

“Respectfully yours, 
TeVGaRandolpl” 


REPLY OF J. H. EATON OF THE GLOBE. 
Piney Zot Lsoile 
“Mr. Blair: 

“T owe it to myself and to the cause of truth to solicit the favor 
of offering a few explanations through the Globe. 

“A strange letter of Mr. Ingham is published in your paper 
this morning. It charges me with a design to assassinate him; 
and in having organized a conspiracy to accomplish it. Why did 
I not organize this band from the War, rather than the Treasury 
Department, for most of the gentlemen charged are of the latter? 
The public will not, I presume, give credit to such an accusation, 
coming from such a source. Wantonly insulted by Mr. Ingham, 
with a view, as I believed, to provoke an adjustment of our differ- 
ences in an honorable way, I adopted the course which evidently 
seemed to be invited by my adversary; and which appeared to 
be the only alternative that was left to me. 


344 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“TI plead not guilty to the charge of conspiracy and meditated 
assassination. From the moment I perceived that Mr. Ingham 
was incapable of acting as became a man, I resolved to pursue that 
course, which was suited to the character of one who had sought 
difficulties, and shunned all honorable accountability. I harbored 
no design upon the heart of one who had shown himself so heart- 
less. Having ascertained that his sensibilities were to be found 
only upon the surface, I meant to make the proper application. 

“On the 19th I notified him, that unless the call I had made 
upon him, was promptly and properly answered, he might expect 
such treatment as I thought his conduct deserved. My note of the 
20th also advised him of my intention. Accordingly it appeared 
matter of duty for me to dissolve all connection with the admin- 
istration of the Government. How then can Mr. Ingham suppose, 
that I would involve those gentlemen in a disgraceful conspiracy 
against him—one in which, as public officers, they could not 
engage even if inclination had sanctioned? ‘Their own characters 
are a sufficient answer to the accusation, unaided by their positive 
denial of its truth. I did endeavor to meet Mr. Ingham, and to 
settle our differences. Unattended by any one, I sought after, and 
awaited his appearance, during the accustomed hours for business, 
openly and at places where he daily passed to his office. He was not 
to be found! I passed by but at no time stopped at, or attempted 
to enter his house, nor to besiege it by day or by night. I offer no 
statement here that is not susceptible of the clearest proof. 

“My note of the 20th was written with indignant feelings, 
and under strong excitement, hence the reason why any reference 
was made to a female. I regret it; although the letter was a 
mere private notice to Mr. Ingham, and was so intended. By me, 
it never was designed to meet nor never would have met the public 
eye. 

é “Respectfully, &c. 
“J. H. Hatomes 


MR. P. G. RANDOLPH TO THE GLOBE. 


“To the Editor of the Globe: 


“It may be proper for me to state, that when I consented to 
bear the communication from the late Secretary of the Treasury, 
Mr. Ingham, it was distinctly understood by Major Eaton, that 
in the event of the correspondence leading toa meeting, my agency 
was to cease entirely, and that Major Eaton was to be attended by 
another friend who was not in the city when the note was sent. 

‘The assertion of Mr. Ingham, that I intruded into his room, and 
threatened personal violence is entirely erroneous. I called at his 
lodging, inquired if he were at home was answered in the affirm- 
ative, and invited to his room by the servant. After the usual 
salutations, I asked him if he intended to answer Major Eaton’s 
note. He replied that he should take his own time, &c. I then told 
him that it was my business to communicate to him the intention 


* 
ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 345 


of Major Eaton to takea decisive and prompt course in relation to 
the matter, if he failed to respond to the note of which I had been 
the bearer the day before. I then took my leave without the 
slightest menace of personal violence on my part. 


“P. G. Randolph.” 
“Washington, June 25, 1831. 


® 


346 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Se525252 25230509050 3232 S8 S88 Se se ese see ISPS SE Se ae Se SPS See ae See Se Se SESE oes e se sesese Ser 
CHAPTER 14. 


{ Sam Houston visited Washington in 1831; invited by 
a citizens of Nashville to accept a public dinner, 
iH which he declined; full text of his speech before 
i eee sei in defense of himself for his assault on 
fh Congressman William Stanberry of Ohio; speech 
: quoted from Knoxville Register. 


Feels fo flrs fesse ec [eee fe eke eee eee esses ese aes] wl 


Sam Houston was elected to Congress in 1823 and again in 
1825, and it was during his second term that he fought the due 
with General William White, of Nashville, which came off Septem- 
ber 23, 1826, in Simpson County, Kentucky, near the Tennessee 
line. White was severely but not fatally wounded. It arose out 
of political matters. In June, 1827, the grand jury of Simpson 
County, Kentucky, indicted Houston for shooting General White 
and the Governor of Kentucky issued a requisition on the Gov. 
ernor of Tennessee to deliver Houston to the Kentucky authorities, 
but the requisition was not complied with, and the prosecution 
dropped. 

After going to Texas, Houston received a number of challenges 
to fight duels, but never engaged in another contest of that kind. 

On August 2, 1827, the election for Governor of Tennessee was 
held and Sam Houston received twelve thousand majority over 
Newton Cannon and Willie Blount, both former Governors of Ten- 
nessee. Houston, at the time of this election, was thirty-four 
years old. Col. D. D. Claiborne, at one time of Goliad, Texas, 
saw him on the day of the election and gives this unique description 
of his appearance. 

“He wore on that day (August 2, 1827) a tall bell crowned 
medium brim shining black beaver hat; shining black patent leather 
military stock or cravat, encased by a standing collar; ruffled shirt, 
black satin vest, shining black silk pants, gathered to the waist 
band, with legs full, same size from seat to ankle; and a gorgeous 
red ground many colored gown or Indian hunting shirt, fastened 
at the waist by a huge red sash, covered with fancy beadwork, 
with an immense silver buckle, embroidered silk stockings, and 
pumps with large silver buckles. Mounted on a superb dapple 
gray horse. He appeared at the election unannounced and was 
the observed of all observers.”’ 


ROGER BROOKE TANEY, 1777-1864. 


Attorney General, July 30, 1831 to September 23, 1833, Secretary of the Treasury, September 23, 1833 to June 

23, 1834, both in Jackson’s Cabinet, Chief Justice of the United States 1836 till his death. Rendered the de- 

ereon in the Dred Scott case March 1857. Case reported in 19th Howard United States Supreme Court 
eports. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 347 


This preposterous attire would seem to conclusively indicate 
deranged mental faculties, which would unfit one for any serious 
effort or initiative, but such was not the case with Houston. 
It demonstrated only the man’s monumental and rediculous van- 
ity, aside from which he displayed qualities and characteristics 
that have placed him in the class of great and memoriable Amer- 
icans. 

Houston was a candidtate for re-election as Governor against 
- General William Carroll, who fought with Jackson at New Orleans 
and had served as Governor of Tennessee three successive terms, 
but was ineligible for a fourth term by reason of the limit contained 
in the State Constitution, prohibiting more than three successive 
terms. ; 

On April 16, 1829, Houston sent in his resignation to the Sec- 
retary of the State of Tennessee, and suddenly left the State and 
took up his home with his old friend Chief Jolly, in Arkansas, where 
a number of Cherokees had gone after leaving Blount County, 
Tennessee. Just what part Houston took in the public affairs 
of the Cherokees or connected with any white community, it is 
difficult to say. History takes him on a visit to Washington, 
accompanying a delegation of Cherokees, to make complaint to 
the administration that the Indian agents of the Government 
were swindling and defrauding the Cherokees. This trip to 
Washington was in 1830, and he succeeded in having five rascally 
Indian agents removed, but made enemies of what was then called 
the ‘Indian Ring.’”’ He, at the same time, made a bid to the 
Government to furnish rations to the Indians at 18 cents a head, 
which bid was rejected. 

In June, 1831, probably on his return from this trip to Wash- 
ington, he was back again in Nashville, Tennessee, and was received 
cordially by his old friends and extended an invitation to a public 
dinner, given in his honor, in Nashville, which he declined. The 
Knoxville Register, Wednesday, August 17, 1831, gives the -cor- 
respondence about this dinner: 


“Nashville, 30th June, 1831. 
*“General Samuel Houston, 
“Dear Sir: 
“We have the happiness of learning that you are again in Ten- 


nessee. With heartfelt pleasure, Sir, would we greet your return 
again to the bosom of your old friends and constituents. 


348 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“And shall we not venture the expression of a hope, that the 
result may be permenent restoration to all those endearments and 
joys of civilized society, of which you have so long been deprived, 
and for which, by nature and habit you are so eminently calculated 
both to receive and reciprocate in the various circles of soczal life. 

“At all events, whatever your own decision, or that of an over- 
ruling Providence may be, in reference to your future destiny, most 
heartly would we once more welcome upon the soil of Tennessee, 
the man whose character and achievments are so intimately iden- 
tified with her own to the advancement of whose best interests and 
lasting glory, the greater portion of his eventful life has been faith- 
fully devoted, and in defense of whose national rights and Honos; 
his youthful blood has so freely flown. 

“In common, Sir, with the great mass of your late constituents, 
we contemplated with deep but silent grief, the unhappy train 
of circumstances which, as it were by the hand of magic, severed 
the tie and at once dissolved our political connection—tresulting in 
the voluntary exile, or rather immolation, of our distinguished 
and favorite Chief Magistrate. But, whatever the nature or 
true character of the circumstances which lead to this unhappy 
result, may have been, we ever regarded them in the light of private, 
personal misfortunes—consequently sacred. And while, on the 
other hand, we reluctantly yielded to what seemed to be your 
adverse destiny, on the other, we felt that it would be worse than 
sacrilege to attempt to rend the veil of individual misfortune 
or rudely to invade the sacred sanctuary of private sorrows; and 
deeply would we depreciate an unwarrantable interference in 
such matters. Asa humble token, therefore, of our undiminished 
confidence and esteem for your character as a private citizen, 
our gratitude and veneration for your signal services, not only in 
the cause of our native State, but in that of our common country, 
as well in the counsels of the Nation as, in the field of carnage and 
of death, permit us for ourselves and in behalf of a large portion 
of your fellow citizens, to request the pleasure of your participation 
in a public dinner to be given in commemoration of our national 
Independence, at the country seat of Col. Phillip Campbell, on 
Saturday the 2nd. Proximo. 

“With sentiments of the highest regard, 

“Your fellow citizens, 
Issac H. Howlet, 
Wm. M. Hinton. 
Austin Gresham. Managers. 
James D. Parrish. 
James Cooper. 
C. Lanier. } 


“Nashville, Tenn., July 1st, 1831. 
“Gentlemen: . 

“Vour favour of yesterday has been received, and I thank you 
for the invitation so kindly given. The interest which you have 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 349 


expressed and continue to feel towards me, cannot fail to awaken in 
my brest, the liveliest emotions blended with recollections sincere- 
ly grateful. 

‘The ties of feeling which so long subsisted between the citizens 
of Tennessee, and myself, have not been dissolved by absence, nor 
is it possible that circumstances can ever obliterate the remem- 
berance of an identity which subsisted from boyhood to maturity. 

“Early adoption made me a Tennessean; circumstances as- 
sociated me with the destiny of her sons, andif I have been in a 
small degree instrumental in the promotion of her interests, the 
approbation of those for whom I have acted, and a consciousness 
of the rectitude of my motives, are the highest rewards that a 
patriot can enjoy. 

“Should the relation which has once existed between the citizens 
of Tennessee and myself, never again be renewed, and destiny point 
to some other place of abode, I shall ever feel proud and happy in 
the assurance, that the brave, patriotic, and enlightened character 
of her citizens, will enable her to preserve those pure republican 
principles for which she has been so justly distinquished. 

“However, much pleasure I should derive from uniting in 
any festivity connected with the celebration of our Independence, 
and in mingling again with my long tried friends, I regret to say, 
that it will not be in my power. 

“T have therefore to request of you individually, gentlemen, 
to accept my most respectful salutations and communicate to 
those on whose behalf you have acted, assurances of my grateful 
friendship. 

“T am, with sincere regard, gentlemen, 

“Your obedient servant, 
“Sam Houston. 


“Messrs. J. H. Howlett, A. Gresham, William M. Hinton, James 
D. Parrish, Churchwell Lanier, Jas. Cooper, Managers.” 


HOUSTON’S SPEECH BEFORE CONGRESS. 


On March 31, 1832, representative William Stanberry, of 
Ohio, made some adverse comment on Houston, and his bid to 
furnish the Indians rations, to which Houston took exceptions, 
and a personal difficulty ensued upon the streets of Washington, 
where the original assault was made by Houston. Stanberry 
reported to Congress that he had been assaulted for words used 
in debate, and the House hailed Houston before that body for 
trial. Houston was allowed counsel, and also to make a speech 
in his own defense. Great interest has always been manifested in 
Tennessee over his speech. It was delivered April 13, 1832. 

The author has never seen the entire speech reproduced but 
once and that was in the Knoxville Register of Wednesday, June 
30, 1832. Extracts from the speech have been published from 
time to time in one connection and another, but were unsatisfactory 
in furnishing Houston’s entire defense of himself. As a part of 


350 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the history of Tennessee, the author feels that the entire speech 
ought to be reproduced, and so prints it in full, taken from the 
Knoxville Register as stated. : 

“Mr. Speaker: 

‘Arraigned for the first time in my life, ona charge of violating 
the laws of my country, I feel all that embarrassment which my 
peculiar situation is calculated to inspire. Though I have been 
defended by able and enlightened counsel, possessing intellect of 
the highest order, embellished too, by all that science and literature 
can bestow, yet it seems proper that under such circumstances I 
should be heard in my own vindication. 

“The charge which has been perferred against me is one of no 
ordinary character. If I shall be convicted of having acted from 
the motive alleged by my accuser, lasting infamy must be the 
consequence. 

‘“‘To my apprehension, the darkest dungeons of this government, 
with all the pains and penalties of treason present a trifling con- 
_ sideration when compared with that load of infamy which under 
such circumstances, must attach itself forever to my name. 


“What is the nature of the charge? I am accused of lying 
in wait, for the purpose of depriving a fellow man of the efficient 
use of his person, if not of existence itself? Sir, can there be a 
greater crime? Who, but a wretch unworthy of the name of man, 
could ever be guilty of it? I disclaim utterly every motive un- 
worthy of an honorable man, if when deeply wronged, I have fol- 
lowed the generous impulse of my heart, and have thus violated the 
laws of my country, or trespassed on the prerogatives of this honor- 
able body, I am willing to be held to my responsibility for so doing. 
No man has more respect for this body, and its rights and privileges. 
Never can I forget the associations connected with this Hall. 
Never can I lose the remembrance of that pride of heart which 
swelled my bosom when finding myself, for the first time, enjoying 
those privileges and exercising those rights as one of the represent- 
atives of the American people. Whatever may have been the 
political collision in which I was occasionally involved; whatever 
diversity of feelings may have for a moment separated me from 
some of my associates, they have never been able to take away 
that respect for the collective body which I have ever proudly 
cherished—The personal associations I have enjoyed, with many 
of those who I now see around me, I shall ever remember with 
the kindest feelings. None of these things, however, are to operate 
as the extenuation of my offense that shall be proved against me. 
All I demand is, that my actions may be pursued to the motives 
which gave them birth. Though it may have been alleged that I 
am a man of broken fortune and blasted reputation, however lim- 
ited, is the high boon of heaven. Perhaps the circumstances of 
adversity, by which I have been crushed, have made me cling to 
the little remains of it which I still possess, and to cherish them 
with the greater fondness. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 351 


“Though the ploughshare of ruin has been driving over me 
and laid waste my brightest hopes, yet I am proud to think, that 
under all circumstances, I have endeavored to sustain the laws of 
my country, and to support her institutions. Whatever may be the 
opinions of gentlemen in relation to these matters, I am here to be 
tried for a substantive offense, disconnected entirely with my 
former life or circumstances. I have only to say to those who 
rebuke me, at the time when they see adversity sorely pressing 
upon me, for myself. : 


‘T seek no sympathies, nor need; 
The thorns which I have spread are of the tree 
Iplanted; they have torn me—and I bleed.’ 


“In support of the charge on which I am here arrainged, I ask 
what facts have been adduced to prove either my motive or my 
course of action? I am well aware that this honorable body, in 
the incipient stages of this prosecution, acted under the allegation 
that I had been guilty of a very great outrage; that I had been lying 
in wait, and had been guilty of an attack upon an unarmed and 
helpless man. 

“Sir, had I comtemplated any such an attack, I should have 
been prepared for the purpose. Had I thought it possible, that 
in walking on that Avenue, I was to meet an individual who had 
ought against me, and was disposed to redress, the wrong by a 
personal rencontre, should I have been found in the circumstances 
in which I was? Was Iarmed? Was I lying in wait? What 
says the testimony? My meeting with the member from Ohio 
was periectly accidental. Wecame together wholly unexpectedly 
on my part, and under circumstances of provocation, such as I am 
well persuaded no member of this body would ever brook. Did 
I attack him without previous challenge? No. Did I not apprise 
him that I was the individual that he had injured? He had ample 
time to place his hands upon his arms, which he did! I was un- 
armed. Sir, has this the semblance of assassination? However 
culpable my conduct may, by some be considered, the crime of 
lying in wait had its existence only in the imagination of my ac- 
cuser. The honorable Senator from Missouri (Mr. Buckner) 
has testified to the House, that I was not apprised beforehand of 
any such meeting—that it was purely accidental, and wholly un- 
expected—that the action took place under a heated state of 
feeling, and was prompted by his arrainging me, before this honor- 
able body, and his subsequent outrages upon my feelings and 
character! 

“It has been said by my accuser, that the attack made upon 
him was for words he had uttered in his place. It is true that he 
had laid before the House a charge of corruption, in which my 
name was implicated, but it was not for the words he uttered here 
that I assailed him. It was for publishlng in the Intelligencer 
libelous matter, to my injury—such as no member of this honorable 


352 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


court, who is conscious of the rights of an American citizen, would 
ever tamely submit to. It was for a false and libelous letter, 
published ‘in anticipation of its regular place’ in the debates of 
this House. After having been ‘blasted’ by the stroke of ad- 
versity, and hunted from society, as an outlaw, to be now libelled 
for corruption, and charged with fraud upon the Government, is 
too much to endure! Could the human mind brook it? Could 
I submit to this, I should indeed think I was a man not only of 
‘proken fortune,’ but of ‘ blasted reputation.’ It is well known 
that a private citizen has no opportunity of a reply to an attack 
that may be made upon him on this floor! It was for the publi- 
cation of such an attack—for the publication of a charge which 
has been here disproven, inasmuch as no testimony has been ad- 
duced to support it. It was for this that I assiled the member, 
and I now assert that his charge is groundless. The proof has 
failed. The proof was on him. I was not called on to prove a 
negative, though I was prepared to doit. After an attack like this 
had been made on my good name, with all that respect for the 
privileges of this House which I have ever felt, and which arises 
from the conviction that they have been entrusted to it, for the 
public good; although I considered the publication false and libel- 
lous, I was induced, by my respect for this body, not to look upon 
him as a private individual, who had wronged me, but as a member 
of this House. I therefore addressed to him a note. It was my 
privilege to do so. However humble I may be, and however 
blasted in the estimation of some gentleman, it was still my priv- 
ilege, in common with the humblest citizen that treads American 
soil, to address an inquiry to the honorable member. I asked of 
him, respectfully, and in language to which none can object, wheth- 
er that publication was his, and under what circumstances it had 
been made? Sir, he did not deign to reply; but, proceeding on 
his own assumption, that I was a man of ‘ blasted reputation,’ 
he would not condescend, nor even stoop, from the lofty height 
of his official dignity, to notice me, a mere private individual. 
The terms in which he couched his refusal were of the most insult- 
ing character! He declared that I had no right, after all that he 
had said to make even a request for an explanation. That was 
assuming higher grounds than that of his privilege. It is the right 
of all—of the lowest and humblest, to request an explanation 
where they are personally concerned. But this was denied me. 
That universal right of petition, which is guaranteed by the con- 
stitution, to all the people of the United States, on which right 
my application was based. This common—this sacred—this wise, 
indefeasible privilege was refused to an American citizen. What 
indignation would such a refusal excite in every manly bosom? 
It was in substance saying to me, although I have injured you 
without provocation, and in the most public manner, you have 
no right to inquire anything about it, and I shall continue to do 
the same thing until your reputation is completely degraded and 
sunk. 


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ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 353 


“Of the nature of the accusation, and the manner in which he 
sustained it, I need not remind this honorable court. My accuser 
declared in reply to the first interrogatory put to him, that it had 
not been his object to impute afraud. On after thought, however, 
he changed his position, and avowed his belief that I was a guilty 
man. Still relentless—still resolved to sacrifice his victim—he 
bore down upon him with all the weight of his official station. Al- 
though the individual had withdrawn himself from civilized society, 
still he must be pursued, and hunted and blasted. With what? 
Withtruth? Withfact? No. Withsurmises. With suspicions. 
With hearsays, and affidavits. But did these proofs, such as 
they were, exist at the time his accusation was made? Not at 
all. He made the charge on a mere vague rumor; but as means 
of inflicting a more deadly stab, he gave in the names of men who 
had disclaimed the truth of their own declaration. Names of which 
I need not say much. 

“T am not curious to speculate much on the affidavit which has 
been produced to the House; a matter, which in its origin, for the 
honor of all concerned, had better been left to sleep in oblivion—a 
matter conceived in malice—matured in corruption and*‘perjury, 
and introduced here in a manner most mysterious. He, who made 
the affidavit, instantly fled. I trust he may be the scapegoat who 
will bear the sins of his association in this transaction to the wilder- 
ness. It would be unnecessary for me to dwell longer on the sub- 
ject of this affidavit. The time at which it was obtained—the 
circumstances which preceeded, attended, and those which fol- 
lowed it. When the individual sought to insinuate himself into 
my favor, after having previously injured me—when he sought 
my forgiveness for past offenses, I forgave him generously; and this 
is the requital. 

“Mr. Speaker, I can not be insensible to the situation I occupy 
before this honorable Court—a situation well calculated to inspire 
alarm and solicitude on my part! In the nature of the accusation, 
there is a matter cognizable in the courts of the country. I am 
arrainged here for the offense of having redressed a personal wrong. 
I am charged with not having respected the rights of this House, 
yet I am not allowed the judgment of my peers. I can claim no 
equality with the honorable members of this House, who, I see 
around me. Their station has raised them far above me. I am 
only a private citizen. Thus, siuated who are to be my judges? 
Those who form a party to this accusation. How unequal the 
contest!—and how hopeless must innocence itself be, if such a 
court were pleased to demand a victim? I know there is no such 
purpose here. The honor, as well as the integrity of gentlemen 
would withhold them from it. But behold the influence which 
may be exerted against me. I see noyjudge upon the Bench, with 
power to instruct the jury as to the law of the case—I see no ac- 
cuser, and no accused standing side by side before that judge! 
I am arrainged before a court which is standing on its own priv- 


23 


354 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


ileges—which arraigns me in itsown case. And thus situated, I 
am tried for the commission of a great, flagrant crime—for in- 
sulting the whole American people, in the person of one of the 
members of this body. Yet, I have violated no law; I have trans- 
gressed no precept known to the people of this land. If I have 
violated any privilege, that privilege must be somewhere declared. 
If it exist at all, it lies as a little spark deeply covered—not even 
the smoke of it has appeared. It is a privilege which the American 
people do not know, and I demand on their behalf to know what it 
is? I shall bow to that privilege when it shall have been defined, 
and when it shall have become constitutional, by the people’s 
acquiesence. But where there is not law, there is not transgres- 
sion. I admit that the members of this House have privilege, and 
that their persons ought to be protected, because they represent 
citizens of this republic. On those privileges, I should be the 
last to encroach. But when a member of this House places himself 
out of the protection of this privilege by trespassing on my rights, 
I shall view him in his individual capacity, and deal with him as 
with any other private man. But I will never trespass on the 
privileges of the House—I will never assail a member of this House 
while he represents the American people, nor will I encroach on 
any privilege which belongs to gentlemen as such! I need not 
say that there exist in this Government, three distinct co-ordinate 
branches. Every gentleman knows what they are. And in respect 
to one of them, Congress have declared what shall, and what shall 
not be considered as a contempt. ‘They have declared that a judge 
shall be protected in the duties of his office; but when he steps 
from the high function of administering the laws enacted by this 
body, and its co-ordinate branches—when he leaves the judicial 
seat, and lays aside the judicial robes, then his privileges cease. 
If, then, we may reason from analogy, in deducing the rights of 
this body, it seems reasonable to suppose that they do not trans- 
cend those of a co-ordinate branch of government; and if not, 
then it is idle to say that when this body has adjourned, its members 
remain under the protection of their privilege, and that it goes 
with a member, and remains with him, while outraging the rights 
of citizens. 


‘“‘Where is the privilege? Shew it to me, that I may obey the 
law. Iam told that it is undefined and undefinable, and that it 
is to be regulated by your discretion alone. If such discretion is 
in your hands, the power of punishment must extend to life itself, 
and that over a man who has not in any way interrupted your 
deliberations. If you can arrest him, you may not only fine him, 
and imprison him, but you may inflict upon him torture and death. 
Sir, tyrants have made laws, and in enacting them, have had no 
regard to graduating them. in proportion to the offenses punish- 
able. By one of these tyrants all offenses were made capital. 
Draco determined that for a small offense a citizen deserved death, 
and as nothing more than death could be inflicted for the great- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 355 


est, the punishment of all crimes became equal. If this body will 
publish its privileges, and graduate its punishments, then we shall 
know what to fear, and how to avoid transgression. Callagula 
enacted laws—they were not for the purpose of regulating his 
subjects, but of entrapping them. He might as well not have 
exerted his legislative power, but left his action solely to the govern- 
ment of his wanton caprice. But he was adjudged a tyrant and a 
monster for punishing men for the transgression of a law that 
they could not know. For it is the conscience and motive of men 
alone which give turpitude to their actions. 

“The ground has been assumed by some gentlemen that if 
the House neglected to punish in such a case as the present, its 
legislation might be exposed to danger: that companies might be 
organized—conspiracies formed—and mobs collected, and thus 
the measures of the House be effectually controlled. Sir, I must 
enter my protest against the application of any such argument to 
myself. My disposition has never been factious—my conduct 
obsrteperous, nor my feeling malignant. It is said that honorable 
gentlemen must be protected. I grant it. I would fall in the 
first ditch when their persons were assailed. I would be the 
last to entrench myself behind it. I feel that, as a patriot, it would 
be my greatest glory to defend their privileges as sacred; but let it 
not be forgotten that the citizen, however obscure, and however 
ruined his fortune, has privileges too. It is his privilege to earn 
and to wear an honest name—to deserve and enjoy a soptless rep- 
utation; this is the proudest ornament that any mancan wear, and 
it is one that every American citizen ought to press tenderly to his 
heart; nor should his arm ever hang nerveless by his side when this 
sacred, brightest jewel is assailed. When a member of this House, 
entrenched in his privileges, brands a private citizen in the face of 
a whole nation, as a fraudulent villian, he forgets the dignity of 
his station, and renders himself answerable to the party aggrieved! 
Are honorable gentlemen to send abroad their calumnies unques- 
tioned? Are they to use the privilege which they have received 
from the citizens of this country, as a means to injure the citizens? 
If gentlemen disregard the ordinary rules of decorum, and use, in 
their place, language injurious to individuals, can they be expected 
to be protected by privileges which they have forfeited? But, if 
honorable gentlemen will respect themselves, and will not travel 
out of the limits of legitimate debate, for the purpose of gratifying 
private pique and personal hostility, they will find a wall of fire 
around them for their protection. The breast of every true-heart- 
ed American will glow with zeal in their defense, and will bow to 
their privileges with reverential gratitude. They will be surround- 
ed with an impenetrable bulwark, such asnoarmed hosts nor the 
massive walls of this capitol could ever supply. It is a normal 
rampart—a defense that will last while time endures. As long as 
members respect the rights of individuals, individuals will respect 
their rights, nor will they ever loose this safeguard until they shall 


356 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


abandon that mutual respect which the citizens of a republic owe 
to each other. Can gentlemen expect to enjoy particular im- 
munities when they cease to act according to the high station they 
occupy, and degrade themselves by the use of language such as it 
does not become the proud spirit of freeman tosuffer? Let them 
be assured the American people will never dishonor themselves by 
approving the voluntary degradation of their representatives. 

‘This honorable body claims to exercise a privilege which is un- 
defined and incomprehensible, but gentlemen have not been able to 
lay their hands on any part of the constitution which authorizes 
their claim to such an extraordinary prerogative. The attempt to 
support it rests upon analogy only—and analogy connected with 
the powers of the star-chamber, that worst excrescence of a dis- 
potic monarcy. For centuries, the citizens of England, to their 
lasting disgrace, cowered and were crushcd beneath the political 
Juggernaut, the almighty and unquestionable prerogative of the 
king, a prerogative which claimed that the king’s court existed 
wherever the king’s person was found; and its prerogative to punish 
for attempts was to be exercised at his pleasure; and was an engine 
of cruelty and oppression. They submitted to a privilege which 
was everything when it was to be exercised, and nothing when it 
was to be defined and investigated—a privilege which floated as a 
vague fancy, in the imagination of a British monarch, and was 
carried into effect by his despotic arm; in the exercise of which, the 
subjects of the British realm were, without law, distrained of their 
liberty, imprisoned, fined, pillored, whipped and pillored again. 

“Gentlemen have admitted that the power they claimed is 
not found in the constitution; then where is it? There is no king 
here, to fancy his own high prerogative—we know no royal majesty 
in this country, to be preserved at the expense of the rights and’ 
liberties of the citizens. On what ground then was the privilege 
placed? On necessity ?—the plea of all tyrants—the hackneyed 
engine of despotism. Who ever heard of a right higher than the 
Constitution ? 

All the powers of this court are derivative. They exist only as 
they have been defined and regulated by the people. Whatever 
is not so granted is the assumption of an extraordinary prerogative. 
If the power is not in the constitution, then it is reserved to the 
people, and the assumption of it is an encroachment upon the 
rights of the citizens. If, however, the court shall assume this 
power, and the American people witnessing it shall acquiesce in 
the assumption, I shall bow to their will with the most reverential 
respect. 

“T trust I shall exhibit the same submission, as has distinguished 
my conduct throughout this trial. Although the officer sent to 
arrest me, could never have effected his purpose without raising 
a posse, I bowed, and ever shall bow to the very shadow of authority 
of the House, so long as my resistence shall be construed into con- 
tempts of the Representatives of the people of the Union! 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 357 


“T conceive that the House had no right to deprive me of liberty 
and arraigne me at its bar, I shall treat its will with profound 
respect, and should its will inflict on me a heavier penalty than even 
the law itself would pronounce, I shall submit willingly to whatver 
it may adjudge. 

“T have lived to sustain the institutions of my country, and 
I will never treat either them or the funcionaries of its government 
with contumely. Yet it is my opinion that the right has been 
assumed without legitimate authority, and that the American 
people when they come to look at the proceeding, and see how 
directly it strikes at the liberty of the citizen will never approve of 
the usurpation. To tell that people, that their servants, when 
acting in a private capacity, are protected by an undefined power 
resting in the breasts of men, who at once exercise the functions of 
accusers, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and juries, will excite 
their astonishment, and unless Iam mistaken, they will deem it 
an awlul reve‘ation of usurped and dangerous power. 

“Tt is certainly a matter of some magnitude that the privileges of 
the House, so strenously asserted, should be defined. The powe~ 
assumed by this court is a higher power than that claimed by a 
British parliament. I dislike precedents where the rights of citi- 
zens are at stake. They cannot bindas when drawn from British 
history, because our constitution and laws are dissimilar to those 
in England. ‘The privileges of parliament, however, are in some 
degree refined, by the laws and precedents of that country, and if 
they were binding, I should yet be acquitted even on their own 
ground; for the most distinguished jurists of England, men who 
have devoted their whole lives to the study of their constitutional 
laws, have expressly decided that when a libel uttered by a member 
of parliament is published by him, the act of publication places 
him out of the protection of his privilege. In the establishment 
of this position, I am, entrenched in authorities, as distinguished 
and unquestionable, as any that can be relied on by gentlemen, 
on the other side. And surely it cannot possibly be supposed 
that this court has a right to exercise powers which the parliament 
of England does not claim for its members, though they are Lords 
and Dukes. The nations of the old world are looking for your 
decision. A great principle is involved. The liberties of more 
than twelve millions of souls are at stake, and my chief regret is 
that on so weighty a subject, I am so incompetent to the task 
which has fallen to my lot, and that I do not possess those abilities 
which would enable me fully to shew, what blessings on the one 
hand, or what curses on the other, must flow from the dicision to 
which this House must arrive. While the people of other nations 
are contemplating all that is sublime and beautiful of government, 
as exhibited in the American Constitution—while they look to 
their fair plains and their fruitful valleys, as a land of refuge for the 
oppressed, a sacred sanctuary which stands ready to receive and to 
protect those who fly from shores polluted with the influence of 
despotism, while the hope of the philanthropist is full blown, and 


358 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


all eyes are directed to this land, as the land of human promise, shall 
it be told that there exists in the midst of us a privilege regulated 
by no law, and of so mysterious a nature, that the citizen of this 
republic knows not when he violated it? Publish this fact, among 
other nations, and none will think of flying to a country where 
even their personal liberty must depend upon caprice, and must 
lie at the mercy of a principle purely tyranical; for whether exer- 
cised by one or many; the principle I repeat is tyranical. It is 
capricious, and in its practical effects, may become cruel in the 
extreme. So long, as the security of the citizen rests upon defined 
laws although the punishment attached to their transgression may 
be very severe; still, if both law and punishment are clearly laid 
down, and publicly known, the law may be obeyed and the punish- 
ment avoided. But it will ever be found that men have an inher- 
ent love of liberty, and an inborn sense of the value of reputation 
which never can be made to yield to an authority. 
‘There is a bright, undying thought in man, 
That bids his soul still upward look 
To fame’s proud cliff; 
And longing look, 
In hopes to grave his name, 
For after ages to admire, 
And wonder how he reached 
The dizzy, dangerous height, 
Of where he stood, or how.’ 


“This is the spirit which animates and cheers men in pursuit 
of honorable achievements! 

‘“‘Apprehensions seem to be entertained, by members of this 
House, lest violence should some day be employed, to abridge 
this honorable body in the enjoyment of its rights; and precedents 
have been referred to, to show that the deliberations of a leg- 
islature may be controlled by armed mobs! One gentlemen seemed 
all alive to the prospect of these dangers; and gentlemen, in the 
progress of my case, have talked about the Government being 
overthrown! ‘They have spoken of the designs of tyrants. They 
have conjured up the spectre of a Chief Magistrate who may have 
his bullies and his myrmidons, and may employ them to carry mea- 
sures in this House, by practices the most nefarious. Sir, I trust 
I shall never see. that day arrive; and I hope that those who are 
much younger than I, may never witness its fearful reality. But 
while gentlemen seem so greatly to dread the tyranny of a single 
individual, and appear to consider it as a matter of course that it 
must be some Caesar, some Cromwell, or some Boneparte, who 
is to over throw our liberties; I must beg leave to dissent from that 
opinion. All history will show that no tyrant ever grasped the 
reins of power until they were put into his hands by corrupt and 
obsequious legislative bodies. If I apprehended the subversion of 
our liberties, I should look not to the Executive, but to the leg- 
islative department. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 359 


‘The whole history of Greece furnished ample lessons of in- 
struction on this subject. And when Caesar trampled on the 
liberties of his country, it was because a corrupt and factious 
Senate had placed the sceptre in his hands, and tendered him the 
crown. ‘The same thing had been done both in Rome and else- 
where; not because one man was stfong enough to conquer the 
nation, but because the nation made their liberties a footstool— 
encouraged and invited him to place his feet upon their necks. 
Men never can be conquered, so long as the spirit of liberty breathes 
in their bosoms, but let their legislature once become corrupt and 
servile, then the freedom of the people becomes an easy prey. 
It is to be hoped that the frequent elections secured by our form of 
Government, may save us from this fruitful scource of ruin, but if 
the term of our representative’s office, were for life, we should be in 
fearful danger of sharing the fate that has happened to all Republics 
before us. The process is easy and natural! Laws are first en- 
acted, which trench but a little on the people’s liberties—these are 
suffered to pass. Then outher laws are enected—which go a little 
further—men begin to find that power is rallying to the strong 
point—from which favors are liberally dispensed. They seek those 
favours, and thus become gradually corrupted. The corrup- 
tion, which has begun at the centre, flows, by degrees, to the ex- 
tremities of the state, from whence, by a natural re-action, it 
reflows again to the centre and there settling, it generates a tyrant. 
Sir, it is thus that tyranny arises—a senate grows corrupt like 
that of Rome—men become its members who look with a deep 
intense burning interest to the possession of power—their constant 
cry is for power—give us more power—we want rank, and rib- 
bons, and titles and exclusive privileges! It. is such men who 
bowed their knees to Pompey, hailed triumphant Caesar, and 
tendered him the sceptre. It is true, that Caesar grasped at it, 
but he never could have clutched it, had there been an upright, 
honest Legislature; faithful to virtue and to Rome. England 
has had her Cromwell. But why? Because a despot had previous- 
ly reigned, whom conspiracy had stricken down—and because a 
parliament, although the idol of the British people, had become 
radically corrupt—and, instead of supporting and purifying the 
throne, had hurled it to the ground. Cromwell’s hopes were 
then young—he commenced with that lowliness which is ever the 
policy of young ambition, but soon he walked, he marched, and 
in the end seized upon a throne, not lower than that of the auto- 
crat of all the Russias. Never would he have been crowned pro- 
tector had not the Parliament of England been first corrupted— 
re-reared the protectoral throne on the necks of a base and servile 
parliament, who tamely brooked the indignity which dastards 
deserved. An honorable gentlemen had alluded to the Constituent 
and National Assembly of France! What Legislative bodies 
could have been more corrupt than they? If the galleries dic- 
tated the law to those bodies, why was it? But because they them- 


360 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


selves had usurped the power they exercised—and terror struck the 
hearts of men who had no home, no country, for where there is no 
security to the citizen, there is neither home nor country. Bona- 
parte was used to say that it was not he who seized the thrones of 
Europe, but it was the people of Europe, who had thrown them- 
selves under his feet. But thefears of gentlemen are groundless. 
Those who crowd the lobbi@s of an American Legislature are too 
enlightened, too patriotic, ever to insult the members of their 
own House of Representatives. Let the House do its duty, within 
the constitution, and they will find, throughout every portion of 
this people, a spirit of the deepest reverence to sustain their rights. 
I submit, then, to this Court, whether gentlemen who have pre-e 
sented so many hypothetical cases, and indulged so many vagu- 
fears, have not disquieted themselves In vain. Some of the gentle 
men have thrown out the idea that probably they themselves 
might be the next victim for immolation—that some rude, fero- 
cious bully might assault them for the remarks they had offered 
on the floor. If these remarks were intended to refer to me—al- 
though the gentlemen no doubt, thought they were doing me noth- 
ing more than sheer justice, yet I can assure them, that I have not 
merited such a reproach at their hands, and I think that the hear- 
ing of this case and the summing up of the evidence by my counsel, 
may be sufficient to prove that such fears are groundless. I have 
never thirsted for the blood of my fellow man. I have never been 
engaged in riots, or guilty of bullying any man. I have never in- 
terrupted any officer of the Government in the discharge of his 
duties. I have never been the advocate of bullies or the represent- 
ative of blackguards. I never sought to inspire the fears of anyone 
by superior physical force—nor have I ever assailed any one unless 
when deeply wronged. I would willingly give my life as a guaranty 
for the protection of the members of this House. I would be the 
first to protect them, the last to insult their feelings or to violate 
the sanctuary of their persons. It was deemed necessary to issue 
asummary process for my apprehension, and it was openly 
maintained that my conduct most richly derserved punish- 
ment. I submitted. I made no resistance to that process—I 
submitted, and shall ever submit to the decisions of this Hous:2. 
Yet it has been deemed not sufficient to rely on the constitution, 
and on privileges never granted by the Constitution, but even the 
personal feelings of members have been appealed to—the very bond 
of sociability has been called in aid of this attempt against the 
liberty of the American citizen. If it had been determined to 
try me for an alleged offense, why appeal to personal feeling, but 
to induce the House to act under the Influence of partiality, and 
sacrifice its duty, the law, and the constitution, to merely personal 
consideration. 

‘‘And what effect was all this to produce in our land? To 
distrain the American citizen of his liberty—to prostrate him by 
power and influence, unknown to the laws of this country. 


WILLIAM T. BARRY, 1784-1835. 


Postmaster General in Jackson's Cabinet March 9, 1829to April 11, 1835; member 
of Congress from Kontucky 1810-1811; United States Senator 1814-1816; 
appointed Minister to Spain and died en route to Madrid in 1835, 


EDWARD LIVINGSTON, 1764-1836. 


Secretary of State, Jackson's Cabinet, May 24, 1831 to May 29,1833. Member 
of Congress from New York 1795-1801, Mayor of New York 1801-1803; served 
at battle of New Orleans on Jackson’s Staff; member of Congross from Louisiana 
1823-1829; United States Senator from Louisiana 1829-1831; Ministor to France 


1833-1835, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 361 


“Thus public liberty is assailed, in the person of an individual, 
and in prostrating him, a principle will be destroyed, which is the 
great safeguard of American liberty. Sir, the time was, when the 
name of Roman Citizen was known throughout the world, as the 
protection of him who bore it. Italy was then the seat of liberty; 
there she shone like the sun in his brightness, and her rays darted 
themselves to the remotest ends of the earth. It was a noble 
example, and we should do well to profit by it. In consequence of 
the decision of gentlemen, the rectitude of whose motives I am far 
from arraigning, I am brought before you as an accused man, and 
placed to respond in my own behalf, before this high tribunal. 
However novel such an attitude may be to me, it may the better 
be endured since it is a great principle that I contend for. It is 
not my rights alone, but the rights of millions that are involved. 
Need I state this here? Who can be so wise to know, or who can 
have the same incentives to preserve the just and unalienable 
rights of an American citizen, as the high court I now address. 
American Citizen! It is a sacred name! Its sanctity attaches 
itself alike to his person, whether he journeys over the scorching 
sands of Florida, or wanders in the deepest forests of our northern 
frontier; throughout the Republic, or in his native State; in the 
bosom of civilization, or in the wilderness of savage life; still he is 
an American citizen. I do not suspect the motives of gentlemen; 
I should not deserve justice at their hands, if I could; I am very 
sure they will feel themselves elevated, far above the influence of 
every sinister consideration. So believing, it will give me pleasure 
to endure their will, and I should be proud to be even their victim, 
rather than admit the belief that they can be actuated by any base 
or unworth motive. I might refer to other matters which are on 
my mind, and which press for utterance. But I shall indulge in 
no feelings on such an occasion as the present. And should any 
unguarded expression have fallen from me, I can assure gentlemen 
that it has fallen without design. The members of this court must 
be aware that many individuals have calculated on the opportunity 
of humililating me, could their measures be sanctioned by the 
public. But I feel proudly confident that nothing which trenches 
on the right, that every man born in this land possesses, to a fair 
and open trial, can ever be sanctioned by the people. I have had 
the misfortune to see a witness brought here in behalf of the accus- 
ed, insulted upon the stand—insulted, where he was entitled to 
expect protection from this House. I have further seen the coun- 
sel who conducted my defense treated with personal disrespect. 
A gentleman whose bland and amiable manners should have at 
least have shielded him from every thing like rudeness or indignity. 
A gentleman whose intelligence raises him to a distinguished 
eminence in society, and the fruits of whose genius will be a proud 
legacy to posterity. He was entitled, as it seemed to me, especial- 
ly when engaged in behalf of an accused man, to respectful con- 
sideration and gentlemanly treatment. How far the course 


362 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 


pursued towards him was of this description, I leave it for the 
court to decide. But this was not the only remarkable thing in 
the course of the present trial. In a court of justice, I had ever 
been taught to believe that the person of an individual accused, 
whatever might have been his alleged offense was held to be under 
protection; that he was shielded by the dignity and authority of 
the tribunal from obloquy and abuse, and protected from all 
violence, whether by speech or action. It is admitted that counsel 
may atimadvert with severity upon his conduct, and enlarge upon 
his guilt. But there is a decorum which usually governs the style 
of a prosecutor; however-so-much heated he may be by his sub- 
ject. The power of public opinion if nothing else is sufficient to 
restrain him, and to correct all impropriety of language. He has 
reason to fear the correction of an indignant people, whenever 
he is tempted to heap insult upon those in bonds. But while 
standing at this bar, have I not been branded with the epithet 
of assassin? And have I not brooked it? Will the annals of 
judicial proceeding exhibit another instance where such language 
has been permitted to be applied to an individual in custody. 
Yet before the eyes of this assembly, and in the eyes of this whole 
nation, have I been traduced by the epithet assassin. Sir, I trust 
that I need not disclaim the crime imputed in that word. I bore 
no dagger when I met my accuser! When that term was applied 
to me, in this place, and on this occasion, I do confess that I felt 
my spirit chafed, and my feelings indignant. But so far as the 
muscles of my countenance were capable of suppressing every in- 
dication of such a feeling, I did suppress it. Yet I could not but 
think of the eloquent and impressive rebuke administered to the 
high Priest of the Jews by the Apostle Paul, when he stood in bonds 
before them, and the high Priest ordered him to be smote upon the 
mouth. ‘God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, for settest thou 
to judge me, according to the law, and commandest me to be smit- 
ten contrary to the law?’ When I was on my trial, at this bar, I 
was under the protection of this august tribunal. I had by my 
deportment here provoked no indignity. As an American citizen 
I had a claim to that immunity from insult which accorded to the 
veriest victim of malice. Yet I was stigmatised as an assassin, 
and I brooked it, uttering no reproach in reply. I hoped it might 
be a propitiation of the offense, if I had committed any against 
the privileges of the American people. 

“As for the feeling which promoted my accuser, who made use 
of the term, however warranted he may have supposed himself in 
applying it to me, I can refer him to the time, and I do it with pride, 
though not in the spirit of vaunting, when it was my destiny, 
and I felt it, I confess, a high and honorable destiny, to be the 

epresentative on this floor of American freeman. 

' “Did the gentleman at this time see anything in my deportment 
which would warrant his treating me as he has done? And I 
think it must be accorded to me, that when, since that time, I 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 363 


have been accidentally present here, my deportment has been ever 
respectful. It has never been my habit to retain and gratify mal- 
ignant feelings, nor should I have given occasion for the present 
proceedings, had I not been accused, denounced, and insulted upon 
this floor. I do not justify my course. I had been held account- 
able, and I have accounted for it. But I trust this is not to be 
made a precedent for others. If in what I did, I sinned against 
this honorable House, I was uncounscious of the fact. The sin 
existed not in my intention; it had no place in my heart. If others 
now enjoying the high station I once possessed, think it becoming 
to assail me with contempt, ridicule and vituperation, I trust I have 
the fortitude to endure it. I can not forget that while I have my 
privileges others have their privileges also, and must account for 
their improper exercise. 

“T may have erred when proceeding on the principle of other 
analagous cases. I objected to the judgment of a prejudiced and 
committed judge. If I had made an assassin-like attack upon the 
reputation of an accused man, I would have at least held myself 
aloof from the task of pronouncing judgment upon him. Sir, I 
feel that I never could have done it. Could I have been guilty 
of such an act? Could I so far have lost sight of every high ob- 
ject, of every noble purpose, of every sacred trust—I should have 
incurred a doom so degraded, that imagination itself would fail 
in the pursuit of my destiny, and fancy would become weary, in 
the pursuit of a profitless journey. I should have sunken myself 
so low, that Archimides himself, with all the fancied powers of his 
levers, though employed at the task for a thousand years, could 
never have exalted such a spirit to the rank and circumstance of 
honorable men—whatever epithets it may have pleased gentle- 
men to use, I acquit them of reproach. I have no epithets to re- 
turn. I will not cherish for a moment, an unkind feeling—no 
not for ‘ the unkindest cut of all.’ 

“Sir, even if injury has been done to the privileges of this 
house, which I deny, does it not become the House to consider 
whether, on correcting one wrong, another may not spring up of a 
far greater and overshadowing magnitude. In the discussion 
which preceded my arrest, my character was gratutiously and 
watonly assailed. It was suggested, as an argument for the arrest, 
that I had probably fled like a ruffian, a renegade and a black- 
guard; and that minutes might be a vast importance. 


“To these gentlemen, who could advance such an opinion, I 
say that they knew little about me. I never avoided responsibil- 
ity. I have periled some little in the protection of American 
citizens, and if I, myself an American citizen, have periled life and 
blood to protect the hearths of my fellow citizens, they little know 
me, who would imagine that I would flee from the charge of 
crime that was imputed tome. At all events, they will learn, that 
for once, I have not proved recreant. I have not eschewed re- 
sponsibility—I have not sought refuge in flight. Never! never!— 


364 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


shall that brand attach itself to my name. Would it not have 
been strange, that I should seek to dishonor my country, through 
her representatives, when I have ever been found ready, at her 
call, to do and suffer in her service? And I trust that while 
living upon this earth, I shall ever be found ready, at her call, to 
vindicate the wrongs inflicted upon her ih collective capacity, 
or upon her citizens in their personal rights; and to resent my own 
personal wrongs. Whatever gentlemen may have imagined, so 
long as that proud emblem of my country’s liberties, with its 
stripes and its stars (pointing to the American flag over the 
portrait of LaFayette) shall wave in this Hall of American Leg- 
islators, so long shall it cast its sacred protection over the personal 
rights of every American citizen. Sir, when you shall have de- 
stroyed the pride of American character, you will have destroyed 
the brightest jewel that Heaven ever made. You will have 
drained the purest and holiest drop which visits the heart of your 
sages in counsel, and your heroes in the field. You will have-an- 
nihilated the principle that must sustain that emblem of the 
nation’s glory,and elevates that emblem above your own exalted 
seat. These massive columns, with yonder lofty dome, shall sink 
into one crumbling ruin. Yes, Sir, though corruption may have 
done something, and luxry may have added her seductive powers 
in endangering the perpetuity of our nation’s fair fame, it is 
these privileges which still induce every American citizen to cling 
to the institutions of his country, and to look to the assembled 
representatives of this native land as their best and only safe- 
uard. 

“But, Sir, as long as that flag shall bear aloft its glittering 
stars—bearing them amidst the din of battle, and waving them 
triumphantly above the storms of the ocean, so long, I trust, 
shall the rights of American citizens be preserved safe and unim- 
paired, and transmitted as a sacred legacy from one genera- 
tion to another, till discord shall wreck its spheres, the grand 
march of time shall cease—and not one fragment of all creation be 
left to chafe on the bosom of eternity’s waves.” 


ROBERT Y. HAYNE, 

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, U.S. SENATOR. 
GOVERNOR OF So.CA., FIRST MAYOR OF CHARLESTON. 
HIS LAST PUBLIC SERVICE 
WAS HIS EFFORT TO OPEN DIRECT RAILROAD COMMUNICATION 
WITH THE VAST IMTERIOR OF OVR CONTINENT. 


——e 1 


“NEXT TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION | KNOW OF NOTHING 
TO BE COMPARED WITH THE [NFLUENCE OF A FREE, 
| SOCIAL AHD COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE, IN SOFTENING 
ASPERITIES, REMOVING PREJUDICES, EXTENDING 
KNOWLEDGE AND FRODMOTING HUMAN HAPPINESS” warn 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 365 


Tele eee] ek en es eee] ee ee see ee eee ee eo ae ae ea sesso ee 


peat ust 8 


ing Acts of Congress; Address of Convention in 
South Carolina to the people of the United 
States; Jackson's proclamation on the nullifi- 
cation question December 11, 1832; Inaugural 
address of Gov. Robert Y. Hayne of South Caro- 


CHAPTER 15. 
Nullification: Ordinance of South Carolina nullify- 
: lina; Gov. Hayne’s Proclamation Dec. 20, 1832. 


feels Teepe sf 


Eee eee are] ee] eae] sae Tee see] eee eas] eT 


When Henry Clay’s Compromise Bill looking to an accommo- 
dation of Nullification troubles in South Carolina passed Congress 
and was signed by Jackson, that leader instantly became the 
most popular man that ever lived in America down to that time. 
The Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 29 to 16 and the House by 
a vote of 119 to 85 and Jackson did not hesitate about signing it; 
and so the dangerous issue between South Carolina and the United 
States passed harmlessly away. The bill was not the bill intro- 
duced by Mr. Verplanck which was the administration bill, but 
Mr. Clay’s bill. 

Jackson’s popularity soared skyward when his great Nullifi- 
cation Proclamation was issued, but when that danger had passed 
by and the compromise tariff act had become a law, the public 
saw in Jackson the savior of the country a second time as his 
victory at New Orleans had been the first. He will be known in 
years to come by his Nullification Proclamation more than by all 
his other acts, military or civil, combined. It alone will forever 
fix his place among the great men of the Country. 

In order that the reader may have a clear and connected view 
of the chain of events which inaugurated Nullification and led on 
to its settlement without bloodshed or war, we will start the 
narrative with South Carolina’s Ordinance to nullify certain Acts 
of Congress, passed by a State Convention on Nov. 24, 1832. 
This Convention met Nov. 19, 1832, and in six days had made 
history of far-reaching and very dangerous importance. Gover- 
nor James Hamilton was President of the Convention. He was 
born in Charleston, South Carolina, May 8, 1786; completed 
academic studies, studied law and was admitted to the bar and 


366 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


began practice in Charleston; served in the War of 1812 as Major; 
was mayor of Charleston; served several terms in the State House 
of Representatives; elected to the Seventeenth Congress, to fill 
the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Lowndes, as a 
State Rights Free Trader; re-elected to the Eighteenth, Nine- 
teenth, and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1821—March 3, 
1829) ; was governor of South Carolina 1830-1832; moved to Texas 
and drowned while on his way from New Orleans to Galveston, 
November 15, 1857. 

This ordinance in full except the names of the Delegates of 
the Convention which were signed to it, is as follows: 


“ORDINANCE 


“An ordinance to Nullify certain acts of the Congress of the 
United States, purporting to be laws laying duties and imposts 
on the importation of foreign commodities. 

‘““‘Whereas the Congress of the United States, by various acts, 
purporting to be acts laying duties and imposts on foreign im- 
ports, but in reality intended for the protection of domestic man- 
ufactures, and the giving of bounties to classes and individuals 
engaged In particular employments, at the expense and to the 
injury and oppression of other classes and individuals, and by 
wholly exempting from taxation certain foreign commodities, 
such as are not produced or manufactured in the United States, 
to afford a pretext for imposing higher and excessive duties on 
articles similar to those intended to be protected, hath exceeded its 
just powers under the constitution, which confers on it no author- 
ity to afford such protection, and hath violated the true meaning 
and intent of the constitution, which provides for equality in im- 
posing the burthens of taxation upon the several states and 
portions of the confederacy: And whereas the said congress, ex- 
ceeding its just power to impose taxes and collect revenue for the 
purpose of effecting and accomplishing the specific objects and 
purposes which the Constitution of the United States authorizes 
it to effect and accomplish, hath raised and collected unneces- 
sary revenue for objects unauthorized by the constitution: 

“We, therefore, the people of the state of South Carolina in 
convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby 
declared and ordained, that the several acts and parts of acts of 
the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws for the 
imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign 
commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within 
the United States, and, more especially, an act entitled ‘An act 
in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports,’ 
approved on the nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and twenty-eight, and also an act entitled ‘ An act to alter 
and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports,’ approved 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 367 


on the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and 
thirty-two, are unauthorized by the constitution of the United 
States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof, and are 
null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers 
or citizens; and all promises, contracts, and obligations, made 
or entered into, or to be made or entered into, with purpose to 
secure the duties imposed by the said acts, and all judicial pro- 
ceedings which shall be hereafter had in affirmance thereof, are 
and shall be held utterly null and void. 

“And it is further ordained, that it shall not be lawful for any 
of the constituted authorities, whether of this state or the United 
States, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the said acts 
within the limits of this state; but it shall be the duty of the 
Legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be 
necessary to give full effect to this ordinance, and to prevent the 
enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of 
acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of this 
state, from and after the Ist day of February next, and the duty 
of all other constituted authorities, and of all persons residing or 
being within the limits of this state, and they are hereby required 
and enjoined, to obey and give effect to this ordinance, and such 
acts and measures of the Legislature as may be passed or adopted 
in obedience thereto. 

“And it is further ordained, that in no case of law or equity, 
decided in the courts of this state, wherein shall be drawn in 
question the authority of this ordinance, or the validity of such 
act or acts of the Legislature as may be passed for the purpose of 
giving effect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of Con- 
gress, imposing duties, shall any appeal be taken or allowed to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of the 
record be permitted or allowed for that purpose; and if any such 
appeal shall be attempted to be taken, the courts of this state shall 
proceed to execute and enforce their judgments, according to the 
laws and usages of the state, without reference to such attempted 
appeal, and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal 
may be dealt with as for a contempt of the court. 


“And it is further ordained, that all persons now holding any 
office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military, under this state, 
(members of the Legislature excepted), shall, within such time, 
and in such manner as the Legislature shall prescribe, take an 
oath well and truly to obey, execute, and enforce, this ordinance, 
and such act or acts of the Legislature as may be passed in pur- 
suance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the 
same; and on the neglect or omission of any such person or persons 
so to do, his or their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, 
and shall be filled up as if such person or persons were dead or 
had resigned; and no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, 
profit, or trust, civil or military (members of the Legislature 
excepted), shall, until the Legislature shall otherwise provide and 


368 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


direct, enter on the execution of his office, or be in any respect 
competent to discharge the duties thereof, until he shall, in like 
manner, have taken a similar oath; and no juror shall be empan- 
nelled in any of the courts of this state, in any cause in which 
shall be in question this ordinance, or any act of the Legislature 
passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in addition to 
the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and truly 
obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such acts or acts 
of the Legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation 
and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof. 

“And we, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it 
may be fully understood by the Government of the United States, 
and the people of the co-states, that we are determined to main- 
tain this, our ordinance and declaration, at every hazard, do further 
declare that we will not submit to the application of force, on the 
part of the Federal Government, to reduce this state to obedience; 
but that we will consider the passage, by Congress, of any act 
authorizing the employment of a military or naval force against 
the State of South Carolina, her constituted authorities or cit- 
izens; or any act abolishing or closing the ports of this state, or 
any of them, or otherwise obstructing the free ingress and egress 
of vessels to and from the said ports, or any other act on the part 
of the Federal Government, to coerce the state, shut up her ports, 
destroy or harrass her commerce, or to enforce the acts hereby 
declared to b2 null and void, otherwise than through the civil tri- 
bunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance 
of South Carolina in the Union: and that the people of this state 
will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obli- 
gation to maintain or preserve their political connection with the 
people of the other states, and will forthwith proceed to organize 
a separate Government, and do all other acts and things which 
sovereign and independent states may of right to do. 

“Done in convention at Columbia, the twenty-fourth day of 
November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and thirty-two, and in the fifty-seventh year of the declaration 
of the Independence of the United States of America. 

“James Hamilton, Jr. 
‘President of the convention, and Delegate from St. Peters.” 


The convention in order to lay its views before all other states 
of the Union, and to justify South Carolina’s cause as far as may 
be, issued an address to the people of the United States after its 
Ordinance had been duly passed and made public. 


“ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

“To the people of Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, North Carolina, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, New 
Hampshire, Maine, New Jersy, Georgia, Delaware, Rhode 
Island, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Miss- 
issippi, Illinois, Alabama and Missouri. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 369 


“We, the people of South Carolina, assembled in convention, 
have solemnly and deliberately declared, in our paramount sov- 
ereign capacity, that the act of Congress, approved the 19th day 
of May, 1828, and the act approved the 14th of July, 1832, al- 
tering and amending the several acts imposing duties and imports, 
are unconstitutional, and, therefore, absolutely void and of no 
binding force within the limits of this state; and for the purpose 
of carrying this declaration into full and complete effect, we have 
invested the Legislature with ample powers, and made it the duty 
of all the functionaries and all the citizens of the state, on their 
allegiance, to co-operate in enforcing the aforesaid declaration. 

“In resorting to this important measure, to which we have 
been impelled by the most sacred of all the duties which a free 
people can owe either to the memory of their ancestors or to the 
claims of their posterity, we feel that it is due to the intimate 
political relation which exists between South Carolina and the 
other states of this confederacy, that we should present a clear 
and distinct exposition of the principles on which we have acted, 
and of the causes by which we have been reluctantly constrained 
to assume this attitude of sovereign resistance in relation to the 
eons of the Federal Government. 


“For this purpose, it will be necessary to state, briefly, what 
we conceive to be the relation created by the Federal Constitution 
between the States and the General Government; and also what 
we conceive to be the true character and practical ‘operation of the 
system of protecting duties, as it effects our rights, our interests, 
and our liberties. 

“We hold, then, that on their separation from the Crown of 
Great Britain, the several colonies became free and independent 
states, each enjoying the separate and independent right of seli- 
government; and that no authority can be exercised over them, 
or within their limits, but by their consent, respectively given as 
states. It is equally true, that the constitution of the United 
States is a compact formed between the several states acting as 
sovereign communities; that the Government created by it is a 
joint agency of the states, appointed to execute the powers enum- 
erated and granted by that instrument; that all its acts, not in- 
tentionally authorized, are themselves essentially null and void, 
and that the states have the right, in the same sovereign capacity 
in which they adopted the Federal Constitution, to pronounce, 
in the last result authoritative judgment on the usurpations of the 
Federal Government, and to adopt such measures as they may 
deem necessary and expedient to arrest the operation of the un- 
constitutional acts of that Governemtn within their respective 
limits. Such we deem to be the inherent rights of the states— 
rights, in the very nature things, absolutely inseparable from 
sovereignty. Nor is the duty of a state, to arrest an uncon- 
stitutional and oppressive act of |the Federal Government less 
imperative, than the right is incontestible. Each state, by rati- 


24 


370 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


fying the Federal Constitution, and becoming a member of the 
confederacy, contracted an obligation to ‘protect and defend, tha 
instrument, as well by resisting the usurpations of the Federal 
Government, as by sustaining that Government in the exercise 
of the powers actually conferred upon it. And the obligations of the 
oath which is imposed, under the constitution, on every function- 
ary of the states, to ‘preserve, protect, and defend’ the Federal 
Constitution, as clearly comprehends the duty of protecting and 
defending it against the usurpations of the Federal Government, 
as that of protecting and defending it against violation in any 
other form, or from any other quarter. 


“It is true, that, in ratifying the Federal Constitution, the 
states placed a large and important portion of the rights of their 
citizens under the joint protection of all the states, with a view to 
their more effectual security; but it is not less true that they re- 
served a portion still larger, and not less important, under their 
own immediate guardianship, and in relation to which, their 
original obligation to protect their citizens, from whatever quarter 
assailed, remains unchanged and undiminished. 


“But clear and undoubted as we regard the right, and sacred 
as we regard the duty of the states, to interpose their sovereign 
power for the purpose of protecting their citizens from the uncon- 
stitutional and oppressive acts of the Federal Government, yet, 
we are as clearly of the opinion, that nothing short of that high 
moral and political necessity, which results from acts of usurpation, 
subversive of the rights and liberties of the people, should induce 
a member of this confederacy to resort to this interposition. 
Such, however, is the melancholy and painful necessity under 
which we have declared the acts of Congress imposing protecting 
duties null and void within the limits of South Carolina. The 
spirit and the principles which animated your ancestors, and ours, 
in the councils and in the fields of their common glory, forbid us 
to submit any longer to a system of legislation, now become the 
established policy of the Federal Government, by which we are 
reduced to a condition of colonial vassalage, in all its aspects more 
oppressive and intolerable than that from which our common 
ancestors relieved themselves by the war of the revolution. There 
is no right which enters more essentially into a just conception of 
liberty, than that of the free and unrestricted use of the productions 
of our industry. This clearly involves the right of carrying the 
productions of that industry wherever they can be most advan- 
tageously exchanged, whether in foreign or domestic markets. 
South Carolina produces, almost exclusively, agricultural staples, 
which derive their principal value from the demand for them in 
foreign countries. Under these circumstances, her natural mar- 
kets are abroad; and restrictive duties imposed upon her inter- 
course with those markets, diminish the exchangeable value of her 
productions very nearly to the full extent of those duties. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 371 


“Under a system of free trade, the aggregate crop of South 
Carolina could be exchanged for a larger quantity of manufactures, 
by at least one-third, than it can be now exchanged for under the 
protecting system. It is no less evident, that the value of that 
crop is diminished by the protecting system very nearly, if not 
precisely, to the extent that the aggregate quantity of manufactures 
which can be obtained for it is diminished. It is, indeed, strictly 
and philosophically true, that the quantity of consumable com- 
modities which can b2 obtained for the cotton and ric? annually 
produced by the industry of the state, is the precise measure of 
their aggregate value. -But, for the prevalent and habitual error 
of confounding the money price with the exchangeable value of 
our agricultural staples, these propositions would be regarded as 
self-evident. If the protecting duties were repealed, one hundred 
bales of cotton or one hundred barrels of rice would purchase as 
large a quantity of manufactures as one hundred and fifty will 
now purchase. The annual income of the state, its means of 
purchasing and consuming the necessaries and comforts and 
luxuries of life, would be increased in a corresponding degree. 
_ “Almost the entire cotton crop of South Carolina, amount- 
ing, annually, to more than six millions of dollars, is ultimately 
exchanged either for foreign manufactures, subject to protecting 
duties, or for similar domestic manufactures. The natural value 
of that crop would be all the manufactures which we could ob- 
tain for it under a system of unrestricted commerce. ‘The artificial 
value, produced by the unjust and unconstitutional legislation of 
Congress, is only such part of those manufactures as will remain 
after paying a duty of fifty per cent to the Government; or, to © 
speak with more precision, to the northern manufacturers. To 
make this obvious to the humblest comprehension, let it be sup- 
posed that the whole of the present crop should be exchanged, by 
the planters themselves, for those foreign manufactures for which 
it is destined, by the inevitable course of trade, to be ultimately 
exchanged, either by themselves or their agents. Let it be also 
assumed, in conformity with the facts of the case, that New Jersey, 
for example, produces, of the very same description of manufac- 
tures, a quantity equal to that which is purchased by the cotton 
crop of South Carolina. We have, then, two states of the same 
confederacy, bound to bear an equal share of the burthens, and 
entitled to enjoy an equal share of the benefits of the common 
Government, with precisely the same quantity of productions, of 
the same quality and kind, produced by their lawful industry. 
We appeal to your candor, and to your sense of justice, to say 
whether South Carolina has not a title as sacred and indefeasible 
to the full and undiminished enjoyment of these productions of her 
industry acquired by the combined operations of agriculture and 
commerce,as New Jersey can have to the like enjoyment of similar 
productions of her industry, acquired by the process of manufac. 


572 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ture? Upon no principle of constitutional right—upon no prin- 
ciple of human reason or justice, can any discrimination be drawn 
between the titles of South Carolina and New Jersey to these pro- 
ductions of their capital and labor. Yet, what is the discrim- 
ination actually made by the unjust, unconstitutional, and partial 
legislation of Congress? A duty, on an average, of fifty per- 
cent is imposed upon the productions of South Carolina, while no 
duty at all is imposed upon the similar productions of New Jersey! 
The inevitable result is, that the manufactures thus lawfully 
acquired by the honest industry of South Carolina are worth, 
annually, three millions of dollars less to her citizens than the very 
same quantity of the very same description of manufactures are 
worth to the citizens of New Jersey: a difference of value produced 
exclusively by the operation of the protecting system. 

“No ingenuity can either evade or refuse this proposition. The 
very axioms of geometry are not more self-evident. For even if 
the planters of South Carolina, in the case supposed, were to 
sell and not consume these productions of their industry, it is 
plain that they could obtain no higher price for them, after paying 
duties to the amount of $3,000,000 than the manufacturers of 
New Jersey would obtain for the same quantity of the same 
kind of manufactures, without paying any duty at all. 

‘This single view of the subject, exhibits the enormous inequal- 
ity and injustice of the protecting system in such a light, 
that we feel the most consoling confidence that we shall be fully 
justified by the impartial judgment of posterity, whatever may be 
the issue of this unhappy controversy. We confidently appeal to 
our confederate states, and to the whole world, to decide whether 
the annals of human legislation furnish a parallel instance of 
injustice and oppression perpetrated under the forms of a free 
government. However it may be disguised by the complexity 
of the process by which it is effected, it is nothing less than the 
monstrous outrage of taking three millions of doilars annually 
from the value of the productions of South Carolina, and trans- 
ferring it to the people of other distant communities. No human 
government can rightfully exercise such a power. It violates 
the eternal principles of natural justice, and converts the Govern- 
ment into a mere instrument of legislative plunder. Of all the 
governments on the face of the earth, the Federal Government 
has the least shadow of a constitutional right to exercise such a 
a power. It was created principally, and almost exclusively, for 
the purpose of protecting, improving, and extending that very 
commerce, which, for the last ten years, all its powers have been 
most unnaturally and unrighteously perverted to cripple and 
destroy. The power to ‘regulate with foreign nations,’ was 
granted obviously for the preservation of that commerce. The 
most important of all the duties which the Federal Government 
owes to South Carolina under the compact of Union, is the pro- 
tection and defense of her foreign commerce against all enemies 


JAMES HAMILTON, Jr., 1786-1857. 


Governo: of South Carolina, 1830-1832, when the issue of nullification was before the country. Member of 
Congress 1821-1829; moved to Texas and drowned while on the way from New Orleans to Galveston. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 373 


by whom it may be assailed. And in what manner has this duty 
been discharged? All the powers of the earth, by their com- 
mercial restrictions, and all the pirates of the ocean, by their 
lawless violence, could not have done so much to destroy our 
commerce as has been done by that very Government to which its 
guardianship has been committed by the Federal Constitution. 
The commerce of South Carolina consists in exchanging the 
staple productions of her soil for the manufactures of Europe. 
It isalawful commerce. It violates the rights of no class of people 
in any portion of the confederacy. It is this very commerce, there- 
fore, which the constitution has enjoined it upon Congress to en- 
courage, protect, and defend, by such regulations as may be nec- 
essary to accomplish that object. But instead of that protection, 
which is the only tie of our allegiance, as individual citizens, to the 
Federal Government, we have seen a gigantic system of restrictions 
gradually reared up, and at length brought to a fatal maturity, of 
which it is the avowed object, and must be the inevitable result, 
to sweep our commerce from the great highway of nations, and 
cover our land with poverty and ruin. 

“Even the states most deeply interested in the maintenance of 
the protecting system will admit that it is the interest of South 
Carolina to carry on a commerce of exchanges with foreign coun- 
tries, free from restrictions, prohibitory burthens, or incumbrances 
of any kind. We feel, and we know, that the vital interests of the 
state are involved in such a commerce. It would be a downright 
insult to our understandings to tell us that our interests are not 
injured, deeply injured, by those prohibitory duties, intended and 
calculated to prevent us from obtaining the cheap manufactures 
of foreign countries of our domestic establishments, or pay the 
penalty of the protecting duties for daring to exercise one of the 
most sacred of our natural rights. What right, then, human or 
divine, have the manufacturing states—for we regard the Federal 
Government as a mere instrument in their hands—to prohibit 
South Carolina, directly or indirectly, from going to her natural 
markets, and exchanging the rich productions or her soil, without 
restriction or incumbrance, for such foreign articles as will most 
conduce to the wealth and prosperity of her citizens? It will not, 
surely, be pretended—for truth and decency equally forbid the 
allegation—that, in exchanging our productions for the cheaper 
manufactures of Europe, we violate any right of the domestic 
manufacturers, however gratifying it might be to them, if we could 
purchase their inferior productions at higher prices. 


“Upon what principle, then, can the state of South Carolina be 
called to submit to a system which excludes her from her natural 
markets, and the manifold benefits of that enriching commerce 
which a kind and beneficient providence has provided to connect 
her with the family of nations, by the bonds of mutual interest ? 
But one answer can be given to this question. It is in vain that 
we attempt to disguise the fact, mortifying as it must be, 


374 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


that the principle by which South Carolina is thus excluded, is, 
in strict propriety of language, and to all rational intents and 
purposes, a principle of colonial dependance and vassalage, in all 
respects identical with that which restrained our forefathers from 
trading with any manufacturing nation of Europe other than Great 
Britain. South Carolina now bears the same relation to the 
manufacturing states of this confederacy, that the Anglo-American 
colonies bore to the mother country, with the single exception, 
that our burthens are imcomparably more oppressive than those 
of our ancestors. Our time, our pride, and the occasion, equally 
forbid us to trace out the degrading analogy. We leave that to 
the historian who shall record the judgment which an impartial 
posterity will pronounce upon the eventful transactions of this day. 

“It is in vain that we attempt to console ourselves by the 
empty and unreal mockery of our representation in Congress. As 
to all those great and vital interests of the state which are affected 
by the protecting system, it would be better that she had no 
representation in that body. It serves no other purpose but to 
conceal the chains which fetter our liberties, under the vain and 
empty forms of a representative Government. In the enactment 
of the protecting system, the majority of Congress is, in strict. 
propriety of speech, an irresponsible despotism. A very brief 
analysis will render this clear to every understanding. What then, 
we ask, is involved in the idea of political responsibility in the 
imposition of public burthens? It clearly implies, that those 
who impose the burthens should be responsible to those who 
bear them. Every representative in Congress should be respon- 
sible, not only to his own immediate constituents, but through 
them and their common participation in the burthens imposed, to 
the constituents of every other representive. If, in the enact- 
mentof a protecting tariff, the majority in Congress imposed 
upon their own constituents the same burthens which they 
impose upon the people of South Carolina, that majority 
would act under all the restraints of political responsibility, and 
we should have the best security which human wisdom has yet 
devised against oppressive legislation. 


“But the fact is precisely the reverse of this. The majority 
in Congress, in imposing protecting duties, which are utterly 
destructive to the interests of South Carolina, not only 
impose no burthens, but actually confer enriching bounties 
upon their constitutents, proportioned to the burthens they 
impose upon us. Under these circumstances, the principle of 
representative responsibility is perverted into a principle of abso- 
lute despotism. It is this very tie, binding the majority of Congress 
to execute the will of their constituents, which makes them our 
inexorable oppressors. They dare not open their hearts to the 
sentiments of human justice, or to the feelings of human sympathy. 
They are tyrants by the very necessity of their position, however 
elevated may be their principles in their individual capacities; | 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 375 


“The grave question, then, which we have to determine, as the 
sovereign power of the state, upon the awful responsibility under 
which we have acted, is, whether we will voluntarily surrender the 
glorious inheritance purchased and consecrated by the toils, the 
sufferings, and the blood, of anillustrious ancestry, or transmit that 
inheritance to our posterity untarnished and undiminished? 
We could not hesitate in deciding this question. We have, there- 
fore, deliberately and unalterably resolved, that we will no longer 
submit to a system of oppression which reduces us to the degrading 
condition of tributary vassals, and which would reduce our poster- 
ity, in a few generations, to a state of poverty and wretchedness 
that would stand in melancholly contrast with the beautiful 
and delightful region in which the providence of God has cast our 
destinies. Having formed this resolution with a full view of all 
its bearings, and of all its probable and possible issues, it is due to 
the gravity of the subject, and the solemnity of the occasion, 
that we should speak to our confederate brethren in the plain 
language of frankness and truth.. Though we plant ourselves 
upon the Constitution, and the immutable principles of justice, 
and intend to operate exclusively through the civil tribunals and 
civil functionaries of the state, yet we wzll throw off this oppres- 
sion at every hazard. We believe our remedy to be essentially 
peaceful. We believe the Federal Government has no shadow or 
right of authority to act against a sovereign state of the con- 
federacy in any form, much less to coerce it by military power. 
But we are aware of the diversities of human opinion, and have 
seen too many proofs of the infatuation of human power, not to 
have looked with the most anxious concern to the possibility of a 
resort to military or naval force on the part of the Federal Govern- 
ment; and, in order to obviate the possibility of having the history 
of this contest stained by a single drop of fraternal blood, we have 
solemnly and irrevocably resolved that we will regard such a resort 
as a dissolution of the political ties which connect us with our con- 
federate states; and will, forthwith, provide for the organization 
of a new and separate government. 


“We implore you, and particularly the manufacturing states, 
not to believe that we have been actuated, in adopting this reso- 
lution, by any feeling of resentment or hostility towards them, or 
by a desire to dissolve the political bonds which have so long united 
our common destinies. We still cherish that rational devotion to 
the Union by which this state has been pre-eminently distinguished 
in all times past. But that blind and idolatrous devotion which 
would bow down and worship oppression and tyranny, veiled 
under that consecrated title, if it ever existed among us, has not 
vanished forever. CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY is the only 
idol of our political devotion; and, to preserve that, we will not 
hesitate a single moment to surrender the Union itself, if the 
sacrifice be necessary. If it had pleased God to cover our eyes 
with ignorance, if he had not bestowed upon us the understanding 


376 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to comprehend the enormity of the oppression under which we 
labor, we might submit to it without absolute degradation and 
infamy. But the gifts of providence cannot be neglected or abused 
with impunity. A people who deliberately submit to oppression, 
with a full knowledge that they are oppressed, are fit only to be 
slaves; and all history proves that such a people will soon find 
a master. It is the pre-existing spirit of slavery in the people 
that has made tyrants in all ages of the world. No tyrant ever 
made a slave; no community, however small, having the spirit 
of freemen, ever yet had a master. The most illustrious of those 
states which have given to the world examples of human freedom 
have occupied territories not larger than some of the districts of 
South Carolina; while the largest masses of population that ever 
were united under a common government have been the abject, 
spiritless, and degraded, slaves of despotic rulers. We sincerely 
hope, therefore, that no portion of the states of this confederacy 
will permit themselves to be deluded into any measures of rash- 
ness by the vain imagination that South Carolina will vindicate 
her rights and liberties with a less inflexible and unfaltering re- 
solution, with a population of some half a million, than she would 
do with a population of twenty millions. 


“It does not belong to freemen to count the costs, calculate 
the hazards of vindicating their rights and defending their liberties; 
and even if we should stand alone in the worst possible emergency 
of this great controversy, without the co-operation or encourage- 
ment of a single state of the confederacy, we will march forward 
with an unfaltering step, until we have accomplished the object 
of this great enterprise. 

“Having now presented, for the consideration of the Federal 
Government, and our confederate states, the fixed and final 
determination of this state in relation to the protecting system, 
it remains for us to submit a plan of taxation in which we would 
be willing to acquiesce, in the spirit of liberal concession, provided 
we are met in due time, and in a becoming spirit, by the States 
interested in the protection of manufacturers. 

“We believe that, upon every just and equitable principle of 
taxation, the whole list of protected articles should be imported 
free of all duty, and that the revenue derived from import duties 
shoud be raised exclusively from the unprotected articles, or that 
whenever a duty is imposed upon protected articles imported, an 
excise duty of the same rate should be imposed upon all similar 
articles manufactured in the United States. This would be as 
near an approach to perfect equality as could possibly be made in 
a system of indirect taxation. No substantial reason can be given 
for subjecting manufactures obtained from abroad in exchange 
for the productions of South Carolina to the smallest duty, even 
for revenue, which would not show that similar manufactures 
made in the United States, should be subject to the very same rate 
of duty. The former, not less than the latter, are, to ever rational 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 377 


intent, the productions of domestic industry, and the mode of 
acquiring the one is as lawful, and more conducive to the public 
prosperity, than that of acquiring the other. 


“But we are willing to make a large offering to preserve the 
Union; and, with a distinct declaration that it is a concession on 
our part, we will consent that the same rate of duty may be 
imposed upon the protected articles that shall be imposed upon 
the unprotected, provided that no more revenue be raised than is 
necessary to meet the demands of the Government for con- 
stitutional purposes, and provided, also, that a duty, substantially 
uniform, be imposed upon all foreign imports. 

“Tt is obvious, that even under this arrangement, the man- 
ufacturing states would have a decided advantage over the planting 
states. For it is demonstrably evident that, as communities, the 
manufacturing states would bear no part of the burthens of 
federal taxation, so far as the revenue should be derived from pro- 
tected articles. The earnestness with which their representatives 
seek to increase the duties on these articles, is conclusive proof 
that those duties are bounties, and not burthens, to their constitu- 
ents. As at least two-thirds of the federal revenue would be raised 
from protected articles, under the proposed modification of the 
tariff, the manufacturing states would be entirely exempted from 
all participation in that proportion of the public burthens. 


“Under these circumstances, we cannot permit ourselves to 
believe for a moment, that, in a crisis marked by such portentous 
and fearful omens, those states can hesitate in acceding to this 
arrangement, when they perceive that it will be the means, and 
possibly the only means, of restoring the broken harmony of this 
great confederacy. ‘They must assurdedly have the strongest of 
human inducements, aside from all considerations of justice, to 
adjust this controversy, without pushing it to extremeties. This 
can be accomplished only by the proposed modification of the 
tariff, or by the call of a General Convention of all the states. 
If South Carolina should be driven out of the Union, all the other 
planting states, and some of the western states, would follow by 
an almost absolute necessity. Can it be believed that Georgia, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, and even Kentucky, would continue to 
pay a tribute of fifty per cent upon their consumption to the 
northern states, for the privilege of being united to them, when 
they could receive all their supplies through the ports of South 
Carolina without paying a single cent of tribute? 


“The separation of South Carolina would inevitably produce a 
general dissolution of the Union; and, as a necessary consequence, 
the protecting system, with all its pecuniary bounties to the north- 
ern states, and its pecuniary burthens upon the southern states, 
would be utterly overthrown and demolished, involving the ruin 
of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing 
states. 


378 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“By these powerful considerations connected with their own 
pecuniary interests, we beseech them to pause and contemplate 
the disastrous consequences which will certainly result from an 
obstinate perseverance, on their part, in maintaining the pro- 
tecting system. With them it is a question of merely pecuniary 
interest, connected with no shadow of right, and involving no 
principle of liberty. With us, it is a question involving our most 
sacred rights—those very rights which our common’ ancestors left 
to us as a common inheritance, purchased by their common toils, 
and consecrated by their blood. It is a question of liberty on the 
one hand, and slavery on the other. If we submit to this system 
of unconstitutional oppression, we shall voluntarily sink into 
slavery, and transmit that ignominious inheritance to our children. 
We will not, we cannot, we dare not, submit to this degration; 
and our resolve is fixed, and unalterable, that a protecting tariff 
shall be no longer enforced within the limits of South Carolina. 
We stand upon the principles of everlasting justice, and no human 
power shall drive us from our position. 

“We have not the slightest apprehension that the General 
Government will attempt to force this system upon us by military 
power. We have warned our brethern of the consequences of 
such an attempt. But if, notwithstanding, such a course of mad- 
ness should be pursued, we here solemnly declare that this system. 
of oppression shall never prevail in South Carolina until none but 
slaves are left to submit to it. We would infinitely prefer that the 
territory of the state should be the cemetery of freemen than the 
habitation of slaves. Actuated by these principles, and animated 
by these sentiments, we will cling to the pillars of the temple of 
our liberties, and if it must fall, we will perish amidst the ruins. 

“J. Hamilton, Jr. 

“President of the Convention. 
“Attest: u 
“Tsaac W. Hayne, Clerk.” 


South Carolina’s challenge to the supremacy of Acts of Con- 
gress in her territory had to be met by the sixty-five year old man 
in the White House, and the way he met it is conceded to be the 
finest achievement of his whole life. The opinion is wide-spread 
that Jackson’s Proclamation is America’s most admirable state 
paper. Itis a lengthy document but many times worthy of the 
most careful and attentive study. It shows Jackson at his greatest 
and American presidential statesmanship in it loftiest and most far 
reaching effort. 


“PROCLAMATION ON THE NULLIFICATION QUESTION. 
DECEMBER II, 1832. 


“WHEREAS, a Convention assembled in the State of South 
Carolina, having passed an ordinance by which they declared,‘ That 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 379 


the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United 
States, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts 
on the importation of the foreign commodities, and now having 
actual operation and effect within the United States, and more 
especially,’ two acts for the same purpose, passed on the 29th 
of May, 1828, and on the 14th of July, 1832, ‘are unauthorized 
by the Constitution of the United States, and violate the true 
meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void, and no law,’ 
nor binding on the citizens of that state or its officers: and by 
the said ordinance, it is further declared to be unlawful for any of 
the constituted authorities of the state or of the United States, 
to enforee the payment of the duties imposed by the said acts 
within the same state, and that it is the duty of the legislature 
to pass such laws as may be necessary to give full effect to the 
said ordinance: 

“And whereas, by the said ordinance, it is further ordained, 
that in no case, of law or equity, decided in the courts of said state, 
wherein shall be drawn in question the validity of the said ordi- 
nance, or of the acts of the legislature that may be passed to give 
it effect, or of the said laws of the United States, no appeal shall 
be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall 
any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose, 
and that any person attempting to take such appeal shall be 
punished as for a contempt of court: 


“And, finally, the said ordinance declared, that the people of 

South Carolina will maintain the said ordinance at every hazard; 
and that they will consider the passage of any act by Congress, 
abolishing or closing the ports of the said state, or otherwise 
obstructing the free ingress or egress of vessels to and from the 
said ports, or any other act of the federal government to coerce 
the state, and shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, 
or to enforce the said acts otherwise than through the civil tri- 
bunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance 
of South Carolina in the Union; and that the people of the said 
state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further 
obligation to maintain or preserve their political connection with 
the people of other states, and will forthwith proceed to organize 
a separate government, and do all other acts and things which 
sovereign and independent states may of right do: 


“And whereas, the said ordinance prescribed to the people of 
South Carolina a course of conduct, in direct violation of their duty 
as citizens of the United States, contrary to the laws of their 
country, subversive of its Constitution, and having for its object 
the destruction of the Union—that Union, which, coeval with our 
political existence, led our fathers, without any other ties to unite 
them than those of patriotism and a common cause, through a 
sanguinary struggle to a glorious independence—that sacred 
Union, hitherto inviolate, which, perfected by our happy Consti- 
tution, has brought us, by the favor of Heaven, to a state of 


380 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


prosperity at home, and high consideration abroad, rarely, if ever, 
equalled in the history of nations: To preserve this bond of our 
political existence from destruction, to maintain inviolate this 
state of national honor and prosperity, and to justify the con- 
fidence my fellow citizens have reposed in me, I, Andrew Jackson, 
President of the United States, have thought proper to issue this 
my Proclamation, stating my views of the Constitution and laws 
applicable to the measures adopted by the Convention of South 
Carolina, and to the reasons they have put forth to sustain them, 
declaring the course which duty will require me to pursue, and, 
appealing to the understanding and patriotism of the people, 
warn them of the consequences that must inevitably result from 
an observance of the dictates of the Convention. 

Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the ex- 
ercise of those powers with which I am now, or may hereafter be 
invested, for preserving the peace of the Union, and for the ex- 
ecution of the laws. But the imposing aspect which opposition 
has assumed in this case, by clothing itself with state authority, 
and the deep interest which the people of the United States must 
all feel in preventing a resort to stronger measures, while there is 
a hope that any thing will be yielded to reasoning and remon- 
strance, perhaps demand, and will certainly justify, a full exposition 
to South Carolina and the nation, of the views I entertain of this 
important question, as well as a distinct enunciation of the course 
which my sense of duty will require me to pursue. 


“This ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of 
resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppres- 
sive to be endured; but on the strange position that any one state 
may not only declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its 
execution; that they may do this consistently with the Con- 
stitution; that the true construction of that instrument permits a 
state to retain its place in the Union, and yet be bound by no other 
of its laws than it may choose to consider constitutional. It is 
true, they add, that to justify this abrogation of a law, it must be 
palpably contrary to the Constitution; but it is evident, that to 
give the right of resisting laws of that description, coupled with 
the uncontrolled right to decide what laws deserve that character, 
is to give the power of resisting all laws. For, as by the theory, 
there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the state, good or bad, 
must prevail. If it should be said that public opinion is a suf- 
ficient check against the abuse of this power, it may be asked why 
it is not deemed a sufficient guard against the passage of an un- 
constitutional act by Congress. There is, however, a restraint in 
this last case, which makes the assumed power of a state more 
indefensible, and which does not exist in the others. There are 
two appeals from an unconstitutional act passed by Congress— 
one to the judiciary, the other to the people and the states. There 
is no appeal from the state decision in theory, and the practial 
illustration shows that the courts are closed against an application 


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ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 381 


to review it, both judge and jurors being sworn to decide in its 
favor. But reasoning on this subject is superfluouis, when our 
social compact in express terms declares, that the laws of the 
United States, its Constitution and treaties made under it, are the 
supreme law of the land—and for greater caution adds, ‘ that the 
judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Con- 
stitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.’ 
And it may be asserted without fear of refutation, that no fed- 
erative government could exist without a similar provision. Look 
for a moment to the consequences. If South Carolina considers 
the revenue laws unconstitutional, and has a right to prevent their 
execution in the port of Charleston, there would be a clear con- 
stitutional objection to their collection in every other port, and no 
revenue could be collected anywhere; for all imposts must be equal. 
It is no answer to repeat, that an unconstitutional law is no law, 
so long as the question of its legality is to be decided by the state 
itself; for every law operating injuriously upon any local interest, 
will be perhaps thought, and certainly represented, as unconsti-. 
tutional, and, as has been shown, there is no appeal. 


“Tf this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the 
Union would have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law 
in Pennsylvania, the embargo and non-intercourse law in the 
Eastern States, the carriage tax in Virginia, were all deemed uncon- 
stitutional, and were more unequal in their operation than any of 
the laws now complained of; but fortunately none of those states 
discovered that they had the right now claimed by South Carolina. 
The war into which we were forced, to support the dignity of the 
nation and therightsof our citizens, might have ended in defeat and 
disgrace, instead of victory and honor, if the states who supposed 
it a ruinous and unconstitutional measure, had thought they 
possessed the right of nullifying the act by which it was declared, 
and denying supplies for its prosecution. Hardly and unequally 
as those measures bore upon several members of the Union, to 
the legislature of none did this efficient and peaceable remedy, 
as it is called, suggest itself. The discovery of this important 
feature in our Constitution was reserved for the present day. 
To the statesmen of South Carolina belongs the invocation, and 
upon the citizens of that state will unfortunately fall the evil of 
reducing it to practice. 

“If a doctrine of a state veto upon the laws of the Union 
carries with it internal evidence of its impracticable absurdity, our 
constitutional history will afford abundant proof that it would 
have been repudiated with indigation, had it been proposed to 
form a feature in our government. 

“Tn our colonial state, although dependent on another power, 
we very early considered ourselves as connected by common inter- 
est with each other. Leagues were formed for common defense, 
and before the Declaration of Independence we were known in 
our aggregate character as the UNITED COLONIES OF AMER- 


382 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ICA. That decisive and important step was taken jointly. We 
declared ourselves a nation, by a joint, not by several acts, and 
when the terms of the confederation were reduced to form, it was 
in that of a solemn league of several states by which they agreed, 
that they would collectively form one nation for the purpose of 


conducting some certain domestic concerns and all foreign rela- | 


tions. In the instrument forming that union is found an article 
which declares that, every state shall abide by the determination 
of Congress on all questions which by that confederation should 
be submitted to them.’ 


“Under the Confederation, then, no state could legally annul 
a decision of the Congress, or refuse to submit to its execution; 
but no provision was made to enforce these decisions. Congress 
made requisitions, but they were not complied with. The govern- 
ment could not operate on individuals. They had no judiciary, 
no means of collecting revenue. 


“But the defects of the Confederation need not be detailed. 
“Under its operation we could scarcely be called a nation. We 
had neither prosperity at home, nor consideration abroad. ‘This 
state of things could not be endured, and our present happy 
Constitution was formed, but formed in vain if this fatal doctrine 
prevails. It was formed for important objects that are announced 
in the preamble, made in the name and by the authority of the 
people of the United States, whose delegates framed and whose 
Convention approved it. The most important among those ob- 
jects, that which is placed first in rank, on which all others rest, 
is ‘TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION.’ Now, it is 
possible that even if there were no express provisions giving 
supremacy to the Constitution and Laws of the United States 
over those of the states—can it be conceived that an instrument 
made for the purpose of ‘FORMING A MORE PERFECT 
UNION’ than that of the Confederation, could be so constructed 
by the assembled wisdom of our country as to substitute for that 
Confederation a form of government dependent for its existenc2 
on the local interest, the party spirit of a state, or of a prevail- 
ing faction in a state? Every man of plain, unsophisticated 
understanding, who hears the question, will give such an answer 
as will preserve the Union. Metaphysical subtlety, in pursuit 
of an impracticable theory, could alone have devised one that is 
calculated to destroy it. 


“‘T consider then the power to annul a law of the United States, 
assumed by one state, INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE EXIST- 
ENCE OF THE UNION, CONTRADICTED EXPRESSLY 
BY THELETTER OF THE CONSTITUTION, UNAUTHOR- 
IZED BY ITS SPIRIT, INCONSISTENT WITH EVERY 
PRINCIPLE ON WHICH IT WAS FOUNDED, AND DES- 
TRUCTIVE OF THE GREAT OBJECT FOR WHICH IT WAS 
FORMED. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 383 


“After this general view of the leading principle, we must 
examine the particular application of it which is made in the 
ordinance. , 

“The preamble rests its justification on these grounds: It 
assumes as a fact, that the obnoxious laws, although they purport 
to be laws for raising revenue, were in reality intended for the 
protection of manufacturers, which purpose it asserts to be un- 
constitutional; that the operation of these laws is unequal; that 
the amount raised by them is greater than required by the wants 
of the government; and finally, that the proceeds are to be applied 
to objects unauthorized by the Constitution. These are the only 
causes alleged to justify an open opposition to the laws of the coun- 
try, and a threat of seceding from the Union, if any attempt should 
be made to enforce them. The first virtually acknowledged, 
that the law in question was passed under a power expressly given 
by the Constitution, to lay and collect imports; but its consti- 
tutionality is drawn in question from the motives of those who 
passed it. However apparent this purpose may be in the present 
case, nothing can be more dangerous than to admit the position 
that an unconstitutional purpose, entertained by the members 
who assent to a law enacted under a constitutional power, ‘shall 
make that law void; for how is that purpose to be ascertained? 
Who is to make the scrutiny? How often may bad purposes be 
falsely imputed—in how many cases are they concealed by false 
professions—in how many is no declaration of motives made? Ad- 
mit this doctrine, and you give to the states an uncontrolled right 
to decide, and every law may be annulled under this pretext. If, 
therefore, the asburd and dangerous doctrine should be admitted, 
that a state may annul an unconstitutional law, or one that it 
deems such, it will not apply to the present case. 


“The next objection is, that the laws in question operate un- 
equally. This objection made be made with truth, to every law 
that has been or can be passed. The wisdom of man never yet 
contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect 
equality. If the unequal operation of a law makes it unconsti- 
tutional, and if all laws of that description may be abrogated by 
any state for that cause, then indeed is the Federal Constitution 
unworthy of the slightest effort for its preservation. We have 
hitherto relied on it as the perpetual bond of our union. We 
have received it as the work of the assembled wisdom of the nation. 
We have trusted to it as the sheet anchor of our safety in the 
stormy times of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe. We have 
looked to it with sacred awe as the palladium of our liberties, and 
with all the solemnities of religion have pledged to each other our 
lives and fortunes here, and our hopes and happiness hereafter, 
in its defense and support. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, 
in attaching this importance to the Constitution of our country? 
Was our devotion paid to the wretched, inefficient, clumsy con- 
trivance which this new doctrine would make it? Did we pledge 


384 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ourselves to the support of an airy nothing, a bubble that must 
be blown away by the first breath of disaffection? Was this 
self-destroying, visionary theory, the work of the profound states- 
men, the exalted patriots, to whom the task of constitutional 
reform was intrusted? Did the name of Washington sanction, 
did the states ratify, such an anomaly in the history of fundamental 
legislation? No. We were not mistaken. The letter of this 
great instrument is free from this radical fault; its language direct- 
ly contradicts the imputation; its spirit—its evident intent, con- 
tradicts it. No; we do not err! Our Constitution does not 
contain the absurdity of giving power to make laws, and another 
power to resist them. The sages whose memory will always be 
reverenced, have given us a practical, and, as they hoped, a per- 
manent constitutional compact. The father of his country did 
not affix his revered name to so palpable an absurdity. Nor did 
the states, when they severally ratified it, do so under the impres- 
sion that a veto on the laws of the United States was reserved to 
them, or that they could exercise it by implication. Search the 
debates in all their conventions—examine the speeches of the 
most zealous opposers of federal authority—look at the amend- 
ments that were proposed—they are all silent—not a syllable 
uttered, not a vote given, not a motion made, to correct the ex- 
plicit supremacy given to the laws of the Union over those of the 
states—or to show that implication, as is now contended, could 
defeat it. No; we have not erred! The Constitution is still the 
object of our reverence, the bond of our union, our defense in 
danger, the source of our prosperity in peace. It shall descend, 
as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, 
to our posterity; and the sacrifices of local interest, of state pre- 
judice, of personal animosities, that were made to bring it into 
existence, will again be patriotically offered for its support. 


“The two remaining objections made by the ordinance to 
these laws are, that the sums intended to be raised by them are 
greater than required, and that the proceeds will be unconstitu- 
tionally employed. 

“The Constitution has given expressly to Congress the right 
of raising revenue, and of determining the sum the public exigencies 
will require. The states have no control over the exercise of this 
right, other than that which results from the power of changing 
the representatives who abuse it; and thus procure redress. Con- 
gress may undoubtedly abuse this discretionary power, but the 
same may be said of others with which they are vested. Yet this 
discretion must exist somewhere. The Constitution has given it 
to the representatives of all the people, checked by the represent- 
atives of the states by the executive power. The South Carolina 
construction gives it to the legislature, or the convention of a 
single state, where neither the people of the different states, nor 
the states in their separate capacity, nor the chief magistrate 
elected by the people, have any representation. Which is the most 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 385 


discreet disposition of the power? I do not ask you, fellow- 
citizens, which is the constitution] disposition—that instrument 
speaks a language not to be misunderstood. But if you were 
assembled in general convention, which would you think the safest 
depository of this discretionary power in the last resort? Would 
you add a clause giving it to each of the states, or would you sanc- 
tion the wise provisions already made by your Constitution? If 
this should be the result of your deliberations when providing 
for the future, are you, can you be ready, to risk all that we hold 
dear, to establish, for temporary and a local purpose, that which 
you must acknowledge to be destructive, and even absurd, as a 
general provision? Carry out the consequences of this right vested 
in the different states, and you must perceive that the crisis your 
conduct presents at this day would recur whenever any law of 
the United States displeased any of the states, and that we should 
soon cease to be a nation. 

“This ordinance, with the same knowledge ofthe future that 
characterizes a former objection, tells you that the proceeds 
of the tax will be unconstitutionally applied. If this could be 
ascertained with certainty, the objection would, with more pro- 
ptiety, be reserved for the laws so applying the proceeds surely 
cannot be urged against the law levying the duty. 

“These are the allegations contained in the ordinance. Ex- 
amine them seriously, my fellow-citizens. Judge for yourselves. 
I appeal to you to determine whether they are so clear, so con- 
vincing, as to leave no doubt of their correctness; and even if you 
should come to this conclusion, how far they justify the reckless, 
destructive course which you are directed to pursue. Review 
these objections, and the conclusions drawn from them, once more. 
What are they? Every law, then, for raising revenue, according 
to the South Carolina ordinance, may be rightfully annulled, 
unless it be so framed as no law ever will or can be framed. Con- 
gress have a right to pass laws for raising revenue, and each state 
has a right to oppose their execution—two rights directly opposed 
to each other—and yet in this absurdity supposed to be contained 
in an instrument drawn for the express purpose of avoiding colli- 
sions between the states and the general government, by an as- 
sembly of the most enlightned statesmen and purest patriots 
ever embodied for a similar purpose. 

“Tn vain have these sages declared that Congress shall have the 
power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises—in 
vain have they provided that they shall have the power to pass 
laws which shall be necessary and proper to carry those powers 
into execution; that those laws and that Constitution shall be the 
“ supreme law of the land, and that the judges in every state shall 
be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any 
state to the contrary, notwithstanding.’ In vain have the people 
of the several states solemnly sanctioned these provisions, made 
them their paramount law, and individually sworn to support 


25 


386 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


them whenever they were called on to execute any office. 
Vain provisions! ineffectual restrictions! vile profanation of 
oaths! miserable mockery of legislation! if a bare majority of 
the voters in any one state may, on a real or supposed knowledge 
of the intent in which a law has been passed, declare themselves 
free from its operations—say here it gives too little, there too much, 
and operates unequally—here it suffers articles to be free that 
ought to be taxed—there it taxes those that out to be free—in 
this case the proceeds are intended to be applied to purposes 
which we do not approve—in that, the amount raised is more 
than is wanted. Congress, is it true, are invested by the Constitu- 
tion with the right of deciding these questions according to their 
sound discretion; Congress is composed of the representatives of 
all the states and of all the people of all the states; but, WE, part 
of the people of one state, to whom the Constitution has given no 
power on the subject, from whom it is expressly taken away— 
who have solemnly agreed that this Constitution shall be our 
law—WE, most of whom have sworn to support it—WE, now 
abrogate this law and swear, and force others to swear, that it 
shall not be obeyed! And we do this, not because congress have 
no right to pass such laws; this we do not allege; but because they 
have passed them with improper views. They are unconstitu- 
tional from the motives of those who passed them, which we never 
can with certainty know—from their unequal operation, although 
it is impossible from the nature of things that they should be equal 
and from the disposition which we presume may be made of their 
proceeds, although that disposition has not been declared. ‘This is 
one plain meaning of the ordinance in relation to laws which it 
abrogates for alleged unconstitutionality. But it does not stop 
there. It repeals, in express terms, an important part of the 
Constitution itself, and of laws passed to give it effect, which have 
never been alleged to be unconstitutional. The Constitution 
declares that the judicial powers of the United States extend to 
cases arising under the laws of the United States, and that such 
laws, the Constitution and treaties, shall be paramount to the 
state constitutions and laws. The judiciary act prescribes the 
mode by which the case may be brought before a court of the United 
States, by appeal, when a state tribunal shall decide against this 
provision of the Constitution. ‘The ordinance declares there shall 
be no appeal—makes the state law paramount to the Constitution 
and laws of the United States—forces judges and jurors to swear - 
that they will disregard their provisions; and even makes it penal 
in a suitor to attempt relief by appeal. It further declares that it 
shall not be lawful for the authorities of the United States—or 
that of the state, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the 
revenue laws within its limits. 

“Here is the law of the United States not even pretended to 
be unconstitutional, repealed by the authority of a small majority 
of the voters of a single state. Here is a provision of the Con- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND Earty TENNESSEE HISTORY 387 


stitution which is solemnly abrogated by the same authority. 

“On such expositions the reasonings of the ordinance grounds 
not only an assertion of the right to annual the laws which it 
complains, but to enforce it by a threat of seceding from the Union 
if any attempt is made to execute them. 

“This right to secede is deduced from the nature of the Con- 
stitution, which they say is a compact between sovereign states, 
who have preserved their whole sovereignty, and, therefore, are 
subject to no superior; that because they made the compact, they 
ean break it, when, in their opinion, it has been departed from by 
other states. Fallacious as this course of reasoning is, it enlists 
state pride, and finds advocates in the honest prejudices of those 
who have not studied the nature of our government sufficiently to 
see the radical error on which it rests. 

“The people of the United States formed the Constitution, 
acting through the state legislature in making compact, to meet 
and discuss its provisions, and acting in separate conventions when 
they ratified those provisions; but the terms used in its construc- 
tion show it to be a government in which the people of all the 
states collectively are represented. We are one people in the 
choice of a President and Vice-President. Here the states have 
no other agency than to direct the mode in which the votes shall 
be given. The candidates having the majority of all the votes 
are chosen. The electors of a majority of the states may have 
given their votes for one candidate, and yet another may be chosen. 
The people, then, and not the states, are represented in the ex- 
ecutive branch. 

“In the House of Representatives there is this difference, that 
the people of the state do not, as in the case of the President and 
Vice-President, all vote for the same officers. The people of all the 
states do not vote for all the members, each state electing only 
it own representatives. But this creates no material distinction. 
When chosen, they all are representatives of the United States, 
not representatives of the particular state from which they come. 
They are paid by the United States, not by the state; nor are 
they accountable to it for any act done in the performance of 
their legislative functions; and however they may, in practice, 
as it is their duty to do, consult and prefer the interests of their 
particular constituents when they come in conflict with any other 
partial or local interest, yet it is their first and highest duty, as 
Representatives of the United States, to promote the general good. 


“The Constitution of the United States then forms a govern- 
ment, not a league, and whether it be formed by compact between 
the states, or in any other manner, it character is the same. It 
is a government in which all the people are represented, which 
operates directly on the people individually, not upon the state, 
they retained all the power they did not grant. But each state 
having expressly parted with so many powers, as to constitute 
jointly with the other states, a single nation, cannot from that 


388 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


period possess any right to secede, because such secession does 
not break a league, but destroys the unity of a nation, and injury 
to that unity is not only a breach which would result from the 
contravention of a compact, but it is an offense against the whole 
Union. To say that any state may at pleasure secede from the 
Union, is to say that the United States are not a nation, because it 
would be solecism to contend that any part of a nation might 
dissolve its connection with the other parts, to their injury or 
ruin, without committing any offense. Secession, like any other 
revoluntionary act, may be morally justified by the extremity of 
oppression; but to call ita constitutional right, is confounding the 
meaning of terms, and can be done through gross error, or to de- 
ceive those who are willing to assert a right, but would pause before 
they made a revolution, or incur the penalties consequent on a 
failure. 

“Because the Union was formed by compact, it is said that the 
parties to that compact, may, when they feel themselves aggrieved, 
depart from it, but it is precisely because it is a compact that they 
cannot. A compact is an agreement or binding obligation. It 
may by its terms have a sanction or penalty for its breach, or it . 
may not. If it contains no sanction, it may be broken with no 
other consequence than moral guilt; if it have a sanction, then the 
breach incurs the designated or implied penalty. A league be- 
tween independent nations, generally, has no sanction other than 
a moral one; or if it should contain a penalty, as there is no com- 
mon superior, it cannot be enforced. A government, on the con- 
trary, always has a sanction express or implied, and in our case,” 
it is both necessarily implied and expressly given. An attempt by 
force of arms to destroy a government, is an offense, by whatever 
means the constitutional compact may have been formed; and 
such government has the right, by the law of self-defense, to pass 
acts for punishing the offender, unless that right is modified, 
restrained, or presumed by the constitutional act. In our system, 
although it is modified in the case of treason, yet authority is 
expressly given to pass all laws necessary to carry its powers Into 
effect, and under this grant, provision has been made for punish- 
ing acts which obstruct the due administration of the laws. 


“It would seem superflous to add anything to show the nature 
of that union which connects us; but as erroneous opinions on this 
subject are the foundation of doctrines the most destructive to our 
peace, I must give further developments to my views on this 
subject. No one, fellow-citizens, had a higher reverence for the 
reserved rights of the states than the magistrate who now addresses 
you. No one would make greater personal sacrifices, or official 
exertions, to defend them from violation, but equal care must be 
taken to prevent on their part an improper interference with, or 
resumption of the rights they have vested in the nation. The line 
has not been so distinctly drawn as to avoid doubts in some cases 
of the exercise of power. Men of the best intentions and sound- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 389 


est views may differ in the construction of some parts of the Con- 
stitution; but there are others on which dispassionate reflection can 
leave no doubt. Of this nature appears to be the assumed right 
to secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undivided 
sovereignty of the states, and on their having formed in this 
sovereign capacity which is called the Constitution, from which, 
because they made it, they have the right to secede. Both of 
these positions are erroneous, and some of the arguments to prove 
them so have been anticipated. 


“The states severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. 
It has been shown that in becoming parts of a nation, not members 
of a league, they surrendered many of their essential parts of 
sovereignty. The right to make treaties, declare war, levy taxes, 
exercise exclusive judicial and legislative powers, were all of them 
functions of sovereign power. The states, then, for all these 
important purposes, were no longer sovereign. The allegiance 
with their citizens was transferred in the first instance to the 
government of the United States; they became American citizens, 
and owed obedience to the Constitution of the United States, and 
to laws made in conformity with powers it vested in Congress. 
This last position has not been, and cannot be denied. How then 
can that state be said to be sovereign and independent whose cit- 
izens owe obedience to laws not made by it, and whose magistrates 
are shorn to disregard those laws, when they come in conflict with 
those passed by another? What shows conclusively that the states 
cannot be said to have reserved an individed sovereignty, is that 
they expressly ceded the right to punish treason, not treason against 
their separate power, but treason against the United States. 
Treason is an offense against SOVEREIGNTY, and sovereignty 
must reside with the power to punish it. But the reserved rights 
of the states are not less sacred because they have for the common 
interest made the general government the depository of these 
powers. The unity of our political character (as has been shown 
for another purpose) commenced with its very existence. Under 
the royal government, we had no separate character; our op- 
position to its oppressions began as UNITED COLONIES. We 
were the UNITED STATES under the Confederation, and the 
name was perpetuated and the Union rendered more perfect by the 
Federal Constitution. In none of these stages did we consider 
ourselves in any other light than as forming one nation. ‘Treaties 
and alliances were made in the name of all. Troops were raised 
for the joint defense. How, then, with all these proofs, that under 
all changes of our position we had, for designated purposes, and 
with defined powers, created national governments; how is it that 
the most perfect of those several modes of union should now be 
considered as a mere league that may be dissolved at pleasure? 
It is from the abuse of terms. Compact is used as synonymous 
with league, although the true term is not employed, because it 
would at once show the fallacy of the reasoning. It would not do 


390 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to say that our Constitution was only a league, but it is labored 
to prove it a compact (which in one sense it is), and then to argue 
that as a league is a compact, every compact between nations must 
of course be a league, and that from such an engagement every 
sovereign power has aright to secede. But it has been shown, that 
in this sense the states are not sovereign, and that even if they were, 
and the National Constitution had been formed by compact, there 
would be no right in any one state to exonerate itself from its obli- 
gations. So obvious are the reasons which forbid this secession, 
that it is necessary only to allude to them. The Union was 
formed for the benefit of all. It was produced by mutual sacrifices 
of interests and opinion. Can those sacrifices be recalled? Can 
the states, who magnanimously surrendered their title to the 
territories of the west, recall the grant? Will the inhabitants 
of the inland states agree to pay the duties that may be imposed 
without their assent by those on the Atlantic or the gulf, for their 
own benefit? Shall there be a free port in one state and onerous 
duties in another? No one believes that any right exists in a single 
state to involve all the others in these countless other evils, con- 
trary to engagements solemnly made. Every one must see that the 
other states, in self-defense, must oppose it at all hazards. 


‘*These are the alternatives that are presented by the Conven- 
tion; a repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the govern- 
ment without means of support; or an acquiesence in the disso- 
lution of our Union by the secession of one of its members. When 
the first was proposed, it was known that it could not be listened 
to for a moment. It was known if force was applied to oppose 
the execution of the laws, that it must be repelled by force—that 
Congress could not, without involving itself in disgrace and the 
country in ruin, accede to the proposition; and yet if this is done 
on a given day, or if any attempt is made to execute the laws, the 
state is, by the ordinance, declared to be out of the Union. 

‘The majority of a Convention assembled for the purpose, have 
dictated these terms, or rather its rejection of all terms, in the name 
of the people of South Carolina. It is true that the Governor of 
the state speaks of submission of their grievances to a Convention 
of all the states; which he says they ‘ sincerely and anxiously seek 
and desire.’ Yet this obvious and constitutional mode of obtain- 
ing the sense of the other states on the construction of the federal 
compact, and amending it, if necessary, has never been attempted 
by those who have urged the state on to this destructive measure. 
The state might have proposed the call for a general Convention 
to the other states; and Congress, if a sufficient number of them 
concurred, must have called it. 

“But the first magistrate of South Carolina, when he expressed 
a hope that, ‘on a review by Congress and the functionaries of the 
general government of the merits of the controversy,’ such a 
Convention will be accorded to them, must have known that 
neither Congress nor any functionary of the general government 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 391 


has authority to call such a Convention, unless it be demanded 
by two-thirds of the states. This suggestion, then, is another 
instance of a reckless in attention to the provisions of the Con- 
stitution with which this crisis has been madly hurried on; or of 
the attempt to persuade the people that a constitutional remedy 
had been sought and refused. If the legislature of South Carolina 

‘anxiously desire’ a general Convention to consider their com- 
plaints, why have they not made application for it in the way the 
Constitution points out? The assertion that they ‘ earnestly 
seek it’ is completely negatived by the omission. 


“This, then, is the position in which we stand. A small major- 
ity of the citizens of one state in the Union have elected delegates 
to a State Convention; that Convention has ordained that all 
revenue laws of the United States must be repealed, or that they 
are no longer a member of the Union. The Governor of that state 
has recommended to the legislature the raising of an army to carry 
the secession into effect, and that he may be empowered to give 
clearances to vessels in the name of the state. No act of violent 
opposition to the laws has yet been committed, but such a state 
of things is hourly apprehended, and it is the intent of this instru- 
ment to PROCLAIM not only the duty imposed on me by the 
Constitution ‘to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ 
shall be performed to the extent of the powers already vested in 
me by law, or of such others as the wisdom of Congress shall de- 
vise and intrust to me for that purpose; but to warn the citizens of 
South Carolina, who have been deluded into an opposition to the 
laws, of the danger they will incur by obedience to the illegal and 
disorganizing ordinance of the Convention—to exhort those who 
have refused to support it, to presevere in their determination to 
uphold the Constitution and laws of their country—and to point 
out to all, the perilous situation into which the good people of 
that state have been led—and that the course they are urged to 
pursue is one of ruin and disgrace to the very state whose rights 
they affect to support. 

“Fellow citizens of my native state,—let me not only admonish 
you, as the first Magistrate of our common country, not to incur 
the penalty of its laws, but use the influence that a father would 
over his children, whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that 
paternal language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my 
countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either deceived 
themselves, or wish to deceive you. Mark under what pretences 
you have been led on to the brink of insurrection and treason, on 
which you stand! First, a diminution of the value of your staple 
commodity lowered by overproduction in other quarters, and the 
consequent diminution in the value of your lands, were the sole 
effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was confessedly 
injurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the unfounded 
theory you were taught to believe, that its burdens were in pro- 
portion to your exports, not to your consumption of imported 


392 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


articles. Your pride was roused by the assertion that a sub- 
mission to those laws was a state of vassalage, and that resistance 
to them was equal, in patriotic merit, to the opposition our fathers 
offered to the oppressive laws of Great Britain. You were told 
that this opposition might be peaceably—might be constitution- 
ally made—that you might enjoy all the advantages of the Union 
and bear none of its burdens. Eloquent appeals to your passions, 
to your state pride, to your native courage, to your sense of real 
injury, were used to prepare you for the period when the mask 
which concealed the hedious features of DISUNION should be 
taken off. It fell, and you were made to look with complacency 
on objects which not long since you would have regarded with 
horror. Look back at the arts which have brought you to this 
state; look forward to the consequences to which it must inevitably 
lead! Look back to what first told you as an inducement to enter 
into this dangerous course. The great political truth was repeated 
to you, that you had the revolutionary right of resisting all laws 
that were palpably unconstitutional and intolerably oppressive—it 
was added that the right to nullify a law rested on the same 
principle, but that it was a peaceable remedy! This character 
which was given to it, made you receive with too much confidence 
the assertions that were made of the unconstitutionality of the 
law and its oppressive effects. 


“Mark, my fellow citizens, that by the admission of your lead- 
ers, the unconstitutionality must be palpable, or it will not justify 
either resistance or nullification! What is the meaning of the 
word palpable in the sense which it is here used?—that which is 
apparent to every one, that which no man of ordinary intellect 
will fail to perceive. Is the unconstitutionality of these laws of 
that description? Let those among your leaders who once ap- 
proved and advocated the principle of protective duties answer the 
question; and let them choose whether they will be considered as 
incapable, then, of perceiving that which must have been apparent 
to every man of common understanding, or as imposing upon your 
confidence and endeavoring to mislead you now. In either case 
they are unsafe guides in the perilous paths they urge you to 
tread. Ponder well on these circumstances, and you will know 
how to appreciate the exaggerated language they addressed to you. 
‘They are not the champions of liberty, emulating the fame of our 
Revolutionary Fathers, nor are you the oppressed people, contend- 
ing, as they repeat to you, against worse than colonial vassalage. 
You are free members of a flourishing and happy Union. There 
is no settled design to oppress you. You have indeed felt the un- 
equal operations of laws which may have been unwisely, not un- 
constitutionally passed; but that inequality must necessarily be 
removed. . 

‘“‘At the very moment when you were madly urged on to the 
unfortunate course you have begun, a change in public opinion 
had commenced. The nearly approaching payment of the public 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 393 


debt, and the consequent necessity of a diminution of duties, had 
already produced a considerable reduction, and that too on some 
articles of general consumption in your state. The importance of 
this change was understood, and you were authoritatively told 
that no further alleviation of your burdens was to be expected at 
the very time when the condition of the country imperiously de- 
manded such a modification of the duties as should reduce them to 
a just and equitable scale. But, as if apprehensive of the effect 
of this change in allaying your discounts, you were precipitated 
into the fearful state in which you now find yourselves. 

“T have urged you to look back to the means that were used to 
hurry you on to the position you have now assumed, and forward 
to the consequences it will produce. Something more is necessary. 
Contemplate the condition of that country of which you still form 
an important part! Consider its government uniting in one bond 
of common interest and general protection so may different states, 
giving to all their inhabitants the proud title of American citizens, 
protecting their commerce—securing their literature and arts—fac- 
ilitating their intercommunication—defending their frontiers—and 
making their names respected in the remotest parts of the earth! 
Consider the extent of its territory, it increasing and happy pop- 
ulation, its advance in arts which render life agreeable, and the 
sciences which elevate the mind: see education spreading the lights 
of religion, humanity, and general information into every cottage 
in this wide extent of our territories and states! Behold it as the 
asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find ‘a refuge and 
support! Look on this picture of happiness and honor, and say, 
WE, TOO, ARE CITIZENS OF AMERICA! Carolina is one of 
these proud states; her arms have defended, her best blood has 
cemented this happy Union! And then add, if you can, without 
horror and remorse, this happy Union we will dissolve—this picture 
of peace and prosperity we will deface—this free intercourse we will 
interrupt—these fertile fields we will deluge with blood—the pro- 
tection of that glorious flag we will renounce—the very name of 
Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men! For what 
do you throw away these inestimable blessings—for what would 
you exchange your share in the advantage and honor of the Union? 
For the dream of a separate independence—a dream interrupted by 
bloody conflicts with your neighbors, and a vile dependence on a 
foreign power. If your leaders could succeed In establishing a 
separation, what would be your situation? Are you united at 
home—are you free from the apprehension of civil discord, with 
all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring republics, every 
day suffering some new revolution or contending with some new 
insurrection—do they excite your envy? But the dictates of a 
high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot succeed. 

“The laws of the United States must be executed. I have no 
discretionary power on the subject; my duty is emphatically 
pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you 


394 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


might peaceably prevent their.execution, deceived you—they could 
not have been deceived themselves. They know that a forcible 
opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws, and they 
know that such opposition must be repelled. Their object is 
disunion; but be not deceive by names; disunion, by armed force, 
is TREASON. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you 
are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful con- 
sequences—on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall 
the punishment—on your unhappy state will inevitably fall all the 
evils of the conflict you force upon the government of you country. 
It cannot accede to the mad project of disunion, of which you 
would be the first victims—its first magistrate cannot, if he would, 
avoid the performance of his duty—the consequence must be 
fearful for you, distressing to your fellow citizens here, and to the 
friends of good government throughout the world. Its enemies 
have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they could not coun- 
ceal—it was a standing refutation of their slavish doctrines, and 
they will point to our discord with the triumph of malignant joy. 
It is yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet time to 
show that the descendants of the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the 
Rutledges, and of the thousand other names which adorn the 
the pages of your Revolutionary history, will not abandon that 
Union, to support which, so many of them fought, and bled, and 
died. I adjure you, as you honor their memory—as you love the 
cause of freedom, to which they dedicated their lives—as you 
prize the peace of your country, the lives of its best citizens, and 
your own fair fame, to retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives 
oflyour state the disorganizing edict of its convention—bid its 
members to re-assemble and promulgate the decided expressions 
of your will to remain in the path which alone can conduct you to 
safety, prosperity, and honor—tell them that, compared to dis- 
union, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an ac- 
cumulation of all—declare that you will never take the field unless 
the star-spangled banner of your country shall float over your—that 
you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned 
while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the Constitution 
of your country! Its destroyers you cannot be. You may disturb 
its peace—you may interrupt the course of its prosperity—you 
may cloud its reputation for stability—but its tranquility will be 
restored, its prosperity will return, and the stain upon its national 
character will be transferred, and remain an eternal blot on the 
memory of those who caused the disorder. 

“Fellow citizens of the United States! the threat of unhallow- 
ed disunion—the names of those once respected, by whom it was 
uttered—the army of military force to support it—denote the ap- 
proach of a crisis in our affairs, on which the continuance of our 
unexampled prosperity, our political existence, and perhaps that 
of all free government, may depend. The conjuncture demanded a 
free, a full and explict enunciation, not only of my intentions, but 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 395 


of my principles of action; and as the claim was asserted of a right 
to annul the laws of the Union, and even to secede from it 
at pleasure, a frank exposition of my opinions in relation to the 
origin and form of our government, and the construction I give to 
the instrument by which it was created, seemed to be proper. 
Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal and con- 
stitutional opinion of my duties, which have been expressed, I 
rely with equal confidence on your undivided support in my de- 
termination to execute the laws—to preserve the Union by all 
constitutional means—to arrest, if possible, by moderate but firm 
measures, the necessity of a recourse to force; and if it be the will of 
heaven that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man for the 
shedding of a brother’s blood should fall upon our land, that it 
not be called down by any offensive act on the part of the United 
States. 

“Fellow citizens! The momentous case is before you. On 
your undivided support of your government depends the decision 
of the great question it involves, whether your sacred Union will 
be preserved, and the blessing it secured to us as one people shall 
be perpetuated. No one can doubt that the unanimity with 
which that decision will be expressed, will be such as to inspire 
new confidence in republican institutions, and that the prudence, 
the wisdom, and the courage which it will bring to their defense, 
will transmit them unimpaired and invigorated to our children. 

““May the Great Ruler of nations grant that the signal blessings 
with which he has favored ours, may not, by the madness of party 
or personal ambition, be disregarded and lost; and may his wise 
providence bring those who have produced this crisis, to see the 
folly, before they feel the misery of civil strife; and inspire a re- 
turning veneration for that Union, which, if we may dare to pene- 
trate his designs, he has chosen as the only means of attaining the 
high destinies to which we may reasonably aspire. 

“‘Andrew Jackson.” 


ROBERT Y. HAYNE AS GOVERNOR. 


Honorable Robert Y. Hayne was inaugurated Governor after 
the Proclamation had come out, and, of course, the burning ques- 
tion of South Carolina’s right to nullify an Act of Congress, was 
necessarily the chief topic of his Inaugural Address made Dec. 
13, 1832. 

ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE, a Senator from South Carolina, 
was born in St. Pauls parish, Colleton district, S.C., November 10, 
1791; completed a preparatory course; studied law and was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and began practice in Charleston, South Car- 
olina; served in the third South Carolina regiment during the war 
of 1812; was a member of the State legislature 1814-1818, and 
served one year as speaker; attorney general 1818-1822; elected 


396 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


a United States Senator as a States Rights Democrat, and served 
from March 4, 1823, to December, 1832, when he resigned to be- 
come Governor; participated in 1832 in a notable debate with 
Daniel Webster upon the principles of the constitution, the author- 
ity of the general government, and the rights of the States; served 
as Governor 1832-1834; mayor of Charleston 1835-1837; president 
of the Cincinnati and Charleston railroad 1836-1839; died in 
Asheville, N. C., September 24, 1839. 


GOVERNOR HAYNE’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 


“Fellow Citizens of the Senate 
“and House of Representatives: 


“I appear before you, in obedience to your commands, to enter 
upon the duties you have assigned me. ‘The chief magistracy of 
South Carolina, at all times an office of high dignity and trust, has 
now assumed an importance which might well induce the most 
highly gifted amongst us to hesitate in taking upon himself the 
fearful responsibility which belongs to it. Putting out of view 
the considerations which would have induced me, at any time, to 
desire to be excused from this service—a sincere distrust of my 
abilites to discharge, in a satisfactory manner, the various and 
trying duties, which must, at this momentous crisis, devolve on the 
executive, would have deterred me from making the attempt, but 
for the conviction that every man now owes a duty to his country 
which he is bound, at every sacrifice, to perform. Deeply sen- 
sible of the high honor conferred upon me in being selected to pre- 
side over the destinies of the state at this interesting period, and 
feeling myself bound to defer to your judgment, I am constrained 
to yield an implicit obedience to the public will, officially made 
known to me through you. 

“In taking this step, I am fully aware of the difficulties which 
are before me. Ina period of intense excitement, threatened with 
dangers from without, and embarrassed by unhappy divisions at 
home, it belongs not to any wisdom or virtue, merely human, to 
reconcile conflicting opinions, harmonize discordant views, and 
meet the expectations of the public. Emergencies will probably 
arise, concerning which opinions will be so divided, that, act as he 
may, your chief magistrate will have to encounter the severest cen- 
sure and reproach. Nevertheless, I will not shrink from the task you 
have assigned me, but relying with confidence on your cordial 
support and on the wisdom and virtue, courage and patriotism, 
of the people, I will walk steadily forward in the path of duty, 
indulging the hope that our united effort for the promotion of the 
welfare, honor, and safety of the state, may be crowned with success. 

“In the great struggle in which we are engaged for the preser- 


vation of our rights and liberties, it is my fixed determination to 
assert and uphold the SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY OF THE 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


ROBERT Y. HAYNE, 1791-1839. 
From National Portrait Gallery of 1856. Governor of South Carolina when 
Jackson issued his Proclamation to the Nullifiers of that State. Served in war 
of 1812; United States Senator 1823-1832; Governor of South Carolina 1832- 
1834; Mayor of Charleston 1835-1837. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 397 


STATE, and to enforce, by all the means that may be entrusted 
to my hands, her SOVEREIGN WILL. I will recognize no al- 
legiance as paramount to that which the citizens of South Carolina 
owe to the State of their birth or their adoption. I here publicly 
declare, and wish it to be distinctly understood, that I shall hold 
myself bound, by the highest of all obligations, to carry into full 
effect, not only the ordinance of the Convention, but every act of 
the legislature, and every judgment of our own courts, the en- 
forcement of which may devolve on the executive. I claim no 
right to revise their acts. It will be my duty to execute them; 
and that duty I mean, to the utmost of my power, faithfully to 
perform. 

“Tn the administration of the ordinary duties of my office, 
it shall be my constant aim, and earnest endeavor, to reconcile 
discordant opinions—to allay party animosities—and, as far as 
may be practicable, to bring all the citizens of Carolina to regard 
each other as brethren of one family. In the administration of 
our criminal code, I am firmly resolved to ‘execute justice;’ but I 
shall endeavor to do so in the spirit of the Constitution, which in- 
structs me that this shall be done ‘in mercy’. Ishould despise my- 
self, and feel that I was utterly unworthy of public confidence, if I 
were not unalterably determined to perform this most painful part of 
my public duty without ‘fear, favor, or affection.’ The pure stream 
of public justice shall not be contaminated by personal feelings or 
party animosities. 

“And now, fellow citizens, having thus frankly laid down the 
principles by which I intend to be governed in the administration 
of the affairs of the state, let us look forward to the prospect before 
us, in order that we may be prepared to meet the crisis as becomes 
men, firmly resolved to do our duty in every emergency. South 
Carolina, after ten years of unavailing petitions and remonstrances 
against a system of measures on the part of the Federal Govern- 
ment, which, in common with the other southern states, she has 
repeatedly declared to be founded in USURPATION, utterly sub- 
versive of the rights, and fatal to the prosperity of her people, has, 
in the face of the world, PUT HERSELF UPON HER SOV- 
EREIGNITY, and made the solemn declaration that this system 
shall no longer be enforced within her limits. All hope of a redress 
of this grievance from a returning sense of justice on the part of 
our oppressors, or from any probable change in the policy of the 
Government, having fled, nothing was left for South Carolina 
but to throw herself wpon her reserved rights, or to remain forever 
in a condition of ‘colonial vassalage.’ She has therefore resolved 
to stand upon her rights; and it is for her sister states now to de- 
termine what is to be done in this emergency. She has announced 
to them her anxious desire that this controversy shall be amicably 
adjusted, either by a satisfactory modification of the tariff, or by a 
reference of the whole subject to.a Convention of all the states. 
Should neither of these reasonable propositions be acceded to 


398 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISToRY 


then she will feel herself justified before God and man, in firmly 
maintaining the position she has assumed, until some other mode 
can be devised for the removal of the difficulty. South Carolina 
is anxiously desirous of living at peace with her brethren; she has 
not the remotest wish to dissolve the political bands which have 
connected her with the great American family of confederated 
states. With Thomas Jefferson, ‘she would regard the dissolu- 
tion of our UNION with them as one of the greatest of evils—but 
not the greatest: there is one greater: ‘SUBMISSION TO A GOV- 
ERNMENT WITHOUT LIMITATION OF POWERS; and 
such a. government she conscientiously believes will be our portion, 
should the system against which she is now struggling, be finally 
established as the settled policy of the country. 

“South Carolina is solicitous to preserve the CONSTITUTION 
as our fathers framed it—according to its true spirit, intent, and 
meaning; but she is inflexibly determined never to surrender 
her reserved rights, nor to suffer the constitutional compact to be 
converted into an instrument for the oppression of her citizens. 

“She cannot bring herself to believe that, standing as she does 
on the basis of the Constitution, and the immutable principles of 
truth and justice, any attempt will be made by her confederate 
states, and, least of all, by the government which they have created 
for special purposes, to reduce her to subjection by military force. 
A confederacy of sovereign states, formed by the free consent of 
all, cannot possibly be held together by any other tie than mutual 
sympathies and common interest. The unhallowed attempt to 
cement the Union with the blood of our citizens (which, if ‘suc- 
cessful, would reduce the free and sovereign states of this confed- 
eracy to mere dependant provinces), South Carolina has solemnly 
declared would be regarded by her as absolving her ‘from all 
further obligation to maintain or preserve her political connection 
with the people of the other states.’ The spirit of our free insti- 
tutions, the very temper of the age, would seem to forbid the 
thought of an appeal to force for the settlement of a constitu- 
tional controversy. If, however, we should be deceived in this 
reasonable expectation, South Carolina, so far as her means ex- 
tend, stands prepared to meet danger, and repel invasion, come 
from what quarter it may. She has warned her brethren of the 
inevitable consequences of an appeal to arms; and if she should be 
driven, in defense of her dearest rights, to resist aggression, let it 
be remembered that the innocent blood which may be shed in 
such a contest, will, in the great day of account, be required of 
those who shall persevere in the unhallowed attempt to exercise 
an ‘ unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.’ 

“Tf such, fellow citizens, should be our lot; if the sacred soil 
of Carolina should be polluted by the foot-steps of an invader, or 
be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in her defense; I 
trust in almighty God that no son of hers, native or adopted, who 
has been nourished at her bosom, or been cherished by her bounty, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 399 


will be found raising a parracidal arm against our common mother 
And even should she stand ALONE in this great struggle for 
constitutional liberty, encompassed by her enemies, that there will 
not be found, in the wide limits of the state, one recreant son who will 
not fly to the rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her de- 
fense. 

“South Carolina cannot be drawn down from the proud emi- 
nence on which she has now placed herself, except by the hands of 
her own children. Give her but a fair field, and she asks no more. 
Should she succeed, hers will be glory enough to have led the way 
in the noble work of REFORM. And if, after making these 
efforts due to her own honor, and the greatness of the cause, she 
is destined utterly to fail, the bitter fruits of that failure, not to 
herself alone, but to the entire South, nay to the whole Union, 
will attest her virtue. The speedy establishment on the ruins 
of the rights of the states, and the liberties of the people, of a 
GREAT CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT, ‘riding and ruling 
over the plundered plowmen and beggared yeomanry ’ of our once 
happy land—our glorious confederacy broken into scattered and dis- 
honored fragments—the light of liberty extinguished, never, perhaps, 
to be reloomed—these—these will be the melancholy memorials of 
that wisdom which saw the danger while yet at a distance, and of 
patriotism which struggled gloriously to avert it; memorials over 
which repentant though unavailing tears will assuredly be shed-by 
those who will discover, when too late, that they have suffered the 
last occasion to pass away when the liberties of the country might 
have been redeemed and the Union established upon a foundation 
as enduring as the everlasting rocks. 

“We may not live to witness these things. To some of us it 
may not be allotted to survive the republic. But, if we are only 
true to our duty, our example will, in that dark hour, be a rich 
legacy to our children—and which of us would desire a higher re- 
ward than to have it inscribed upon his tomb—‘ Here lies the man 
who sacrificed himself in a noble effort to rescue the Constitution 
from violation, and to restore the liberties of his country!’ 

“Fellowcitizens, this is our ‘OUR OWN, OUR NATIVE 
LAND; it is the soil of CAROLINA, which has been enriched 
by the precious blood of our ancestors, shed in defense of those 
-Tights and liberties, which we are bound by every tie, divine and 
human, to transmit unimpaired to our posterity. It is here that 
we have been cherished in youth and sustained in manhood by the 
generous confidence of our fellow citizens; here repose the honored 
bones of our fathers; here the eyes of our children first beheld the 
light; and here, when our earthly pilgrimage is over, we hope to 
sink to rest on the bosom of our common mother. Bound to our 
country by such sacred and endearing ties, let others desert her if 
they can; let them revile her if they will; let them give aid and 
countenance to her enemies if they may; but for us, we will 
STAND OR FALL WITH CAROLINA. 


400 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“God grant that the wisdom of your counsels, sustained by the 
courage and patriotism of our people, may crown our efforts for 
the preservation of our liberities with triumphant success. But 
if, in the inscrutible purposes of an allwise Providence, it should 
be otherwise decreed, let us be prepared to DO OUR DUTY in 
every emergency. 

“Tf assailed by violence from abroad, and deserted by those to 
whom she has a right to look for support, our beloved state is to 
be ‘ humbled in dust and ashes’ before the footstool of the op-- 
pressor, we shall not rejoice in her humiliation, nor join in the 
exultation of her enemies, but, in adversity as in prosperity, in 
weal and in woe, ‘through good report and evil report,’ we will 
GO FOR CAROLINA. 

“And now, fellow citizens, offering up most fervent prayers to 
Him in whose hands are the destinies of nations, that he will 
prosper all your measures, and have our WHOLE COUNTRY 
‘in his holy keeping,’ Iam ready, in the solemn form prescribed 
by the Constitution, to dedicate myself to the service of the state. 
‘Robert Y. Hayne, Governor. 
December 13, 1832. 


But this brief address was the personal view of the Gov- 
ernor and the full weight and strength of South Carolina as a sov- 
ereign state must be given to the world in a document as dignified 
and representative as Jackson’s Proclamation; so the Governor 
issued his Proclamation which may be accepted as strong and con- 
vincing a presentation of the Nullifiers’ side of the great and 
fundamental question involved in Nullification, as was ever pre- 
sented. 


GOVERNOR HAYNE’S PROCLAMATOIN. 


‘‘Whereas the President of the United States hath issued his 
proclamation concerning an ‘ordinance of the people of South 
Carolina to nullify certain acts of the Congress of the United 
States,’ laying ‘ duties and imposts for the protection of domes- 
tic manufacturers: 

‘‘And whereas the Legislature of South Carolina, now in ses- 
sion, taking into consideration the matters contained in the said 
proclamation of the President, have adopted a preamble and res- 
olution to the following effect, viz: 

“Whereas, the President of the United States has issued his 
proclamation, denouncing the proceedings of this state, calling 
upon the citizens thereof to renounce their primary allegiance, and 
threatening them with military coercion, unwarranted by the 
Constitution, and utterly inconsistent with the existence of a 
free state: Beit, therefore, 


WATER SCENE AT FOOT OF COLD SPRING MOUNTAIN, UPPER EAST TENNESSEE. Taken by Wm. Heiskoll Brown, Amateur photographer of Greonville, Tenn, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 401 


“Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested, 
forthwith, to issue his proclamation, warning the good people of 
this state against the attempt of the President of the United States 
to seduce them from their allegiance, exorting them to disregard 
his vain menaces, and to be prepared to sustain the dignity, and 
protect the liberty of the state against the arbitrary measures 
proposed by the President.’ 

“Now, I, Robert Y. Hayne, Governor of South Carolina, in 
obedience to the said resolution, do hereby issue this my procla- 
mation, solemnly warning the good people of this state against 
the dangerous and pernicious doctrine promulgated in the said 
proclamation of the President, as calculated to mislead their 
judgments as to the true character of the Government under which 
they live, and the paramount obligation which they owe to the 
state, and manifestly intended to seduce them from their allegiance, 
and, by drawing them to the support of the violent and unlawful 
measures contemplated by the President, to involve them in the 
guilt of REBELLION. I would earnestly admonish them to 
beware of the specious, but false doctrines, by which it is now 
attempted to be shown that the several states have not retained 
their entire sovereignty; that ‘the allegiance of their citizens 
was transferred, 7 the first instance, to the Government of the 
United States; that ‘a state cannot be said to be sovereign and 
independent, whose citizens owe obedience to laws not made by 
it; that, “even under the royal Government, we had no separate 
character;’. that the Constitution has created ‘a National Govern- 
ment,’ which is not ‘a compact between sovereign states;’ ‘that a 
state has NO RIGHT TO SECEDE,’ in a word, that ours is a 
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, in which the people of all the 
states are represented, and by which we are constituted ‘ONE 
PEOPLE;’ and ‘that our representatives in Congress are all 
representatives of the United States, and none of the particular 
states from which they come’—doctrines which uproot the very 
foundation of our political system; annihilate the rights of the 
states, and utterly destroy the liberties of the citizen. 

“It requires no reasoning to show what the bare statement of 
these propositions demonstrate, that such a Government as is 
here described has not a single feature of a confederated republic. 
It is, in truth, an accurate delineation, drawn with a bold hand, of 
a great consolidated empire ‘one and undivisible; and, under 
whatever specious form its powers may be masked, it is, in fact, 
the worst of all despotisms, in which the spirit of an arbitrary 
government is suffered to pervade institutions professing to be 
free. Such was not the Government for which our fathers fought 
and bled, and offered up their lives and fortunes as a willing sacri- 
fice. Such was not the Government which the great and patriotic 
men who called the Union into being, in the plenitude of their 
wisdoms, framed. Such was not the Government which the 
fathers of republican fate, led on by the apostle of American lib- 


26 


402 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


erty, promulgated, and successfully maintained in 1798, and by 
which they produced the great political revolution effected at 
that auspicious era. To a Government based on such principles, 
South Carolina has not been a voluntary party, and to such a 
Government she never will give her assent. 

“The records of our history do, indeed, afford the prototype 
of these sentiments, which is to be found in the recorded opinion 
of those, who, when the Constitution was framed, were in favor of 
a ‘firm National Government,’ in which the states should stand 
in the same relation to the Union that the colonies did towards the 
mother country. The journals of the Convention, and the secret 
history of the debates, will show that this party did propose to 
secure to the Federal Government an absolute supremacy over 
the states, by giving them a negative upon their laws; but the same 
history also teaches us that all these propositions were rejected, 
and a Federal Government was fully established, recognizing the 
sovereignty of the States, and leaving the constitutional compact 
on the footing of all other compacts, between ‘ parties having no 
common superior.’ 

“It is the natural and necessary consequence of the principles 
thus authoritatively announced by the President, as constituting 
the very basis of our political system, that the Federal Government 
is unlimited and supreme—being the exclusive judge of the ex- 
tent of its own powers, the laws of Congress, sanctioned by the 
Executive and the judiciary, whether passed in direct 
violation of the Constitution and rights of the states, or not, are 
‘the supreme law of the land.’ Hence it is, that the President 
obviously considers the words ‘ made in pursuance of the Con- 
stitution,’ as mere surplussage; and, therefore, when he pro- 
fesses to recite the provision of the Constitution on this subject, 
he states our ‘SOCIAL COMPACT, in express terms, declares 
that the Jaws of the United States, its Constitution, and the trea- 
ties made under it, are the supreme law of the land,’ and speaks, 
throughout, of ‘ the explicit supremacy, given to the laws of the 
Union over those of the state’ as if a law of Congress was, of 
itself, supreme, while it was necessary to the validity of a treaty 
that it should be made in pursuance of the Constitution. Such, 
however, is not the provision of the Constitution. That instru- 
ment expressly provides that ‘the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be 
the supreme law of the land, anything in the Constitution or laws 
of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.’ 

“Here it will be seen that a law of Congress, as such, can have 
no validity unless made ‘in pursuance of the Constitution.’ An 
unconstitutional act is, therefore, null and void; and the only 
point that can arise in this case is, whether, to the Federal Govern- 
ment, or any department thereof, has been exclusively reserved the 
right to decide authoritatively for the states this question of con- 
stitutionality. If this be so, to which of the departments, it 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 403 


may be asked, is this right of final judgment given? If it be to 
Congress, then is Congress not only elevated above the other 
departments of the Federal Government, but it is put above the 
Constitution itself. This, however, the President himself has 
publicly and solemnly denied, claiming and exercising—as is 
known to all the world—the right to refuse to execute acts of 
Congress and solemn treaties, even after they had received the 
sanction of every department of the Federal Government. 

“That the Executive possesses this right of deciding finally 
and exclusively as to the validity of acts of Congress, will hardly 
be pretended; and that it belongs to the judiciary, except so far 
as may be necessary to the decision of questions which may in- 
cidentally come before them in ‘ cases of law and equity,’ has been 
denied by none more strongly than the President himself, who, on 
a memorable occasion, refused to acknowledge the binding author- 
ity of the Federal Court, and claimed for himself, and has exercised 
the right of enforcing the laws, not according to their judgment, 
but ‘ his own understanding of them.’ And yet, when it serves 
the purpose of bringing odium upon South Carolin’, ‘ his native 
state,’ the President has no hesitation in regarding the attempt of 
a state to release herself from the control of the Federal judiciary, 
in a matter affecting her sovereign rights, as a violation of the Con- 
stitution. 

“It is unnecessary to enter into an elaborate examination of the 
subject. It surely cannot admit of a doubt, that, by the Declar- 
ation of Independence, the several colonies became ‘ free, sovereign, 
and independent states;’ and our political history will abundantly 
show that, at every subsequent change in their condition, up to the 
formation of our present Constitution, the states preserved their 
sovereignty. The discovery of this new feature of our system, that 
the states exist only as members of the Union; that before the de- 
claration of independence, we were known only as ‘ United Col- 
. onies;’ and that, even under the articles of confederation, the’ 
states were considered as forming ‘ collectively ONE NATION - 
without any right of refusing to submit to ‘ any decision of Con- 
gress ’—was reserved to the President and his zmmediate predeces, 
sor. ‘To the latter ‘ belongs the zmvention, and, upon the former 
will unfortunately fall the evil of reducing it to practice.’ 

“South Carolina holds the principles now promulgated by the 
President—as they must always be held by all who claim to be sup- 
porters of the rights of the states—‘ as contradicted by the letter 
of the Constitution; unauthorized by its spirit; inconsistent with 
every principle on which it was founded; destructive of all the 
objects for which it was framed; utterly incompatible with the 
very existence of the states, and absolutely fatal to the rights and 
liberties of the people. South Carolina has so solemnly, and re- 
peatedly expressed to Congress, and the world, the principles which 
she believes to constitute the very pillars of the Constitution, that 
it is deemed unnecessary to do more, at this time, than barely to 


404 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


present a summary of those great fundamental truths, which she 
believes can never be subverted without the inevitable destruction 
of the liberties of the people, and of the Union itself. South 
Carolina has never claimed—as is asserted by the President—the 
right of ‘ repealing, at pleasure, all the revenue laws of the Union,’ 
much less the right of ‘ repealing the Constitution itself, and laws 
passed to give it effect, which have never been alleged to be uncon- 
stitutional.’ She claims only the right to judge of infractions of 
the constitutional compact, in violation of the reserved rights of 
the state, and of arresting the progress of usurpation within her 
own limits, and when, as in the tariffs of 1828 and 1832, revenue 
and protection, constitutional and unconstitutional objects, have 
been so mixed up together that it is found impossible to draw the 
line of discrimination—she has no alternative but to consider the 
whole as a system unconstitutional in its character, and to leave 
it to those who have ‘ woven the web, to unravel the threads.’ 
South Carolina insists, and she appeals to the whole political 
history of our country, in support of her position,‘ that the Con- 
stitution of the United States is a compact between sovereign 
states; that it creates a confederated republic, not having a single 
feature of nationality in its foundation; that the people of the sev- 
eral states, as distinct, political communities, ratified the Consti- 
tution, each state acting for itself, and binding its own citizens, 
and not those of any other state, the act of ratification declaring 
it to be binding on the states so ratifying: the states are its authors, 
their power created it; their voice clothed it with authority; the 
Government, which it formed, is composed of their agents; and the 
Union, of which it is the bond, is a Union of States, and not of 
individuals; that, as regards the foundation and extent of its 
power, the Government of the United States is strictly what its 
name implies, a Federal Government; that the states are as 
sovereign now as they were prior to the entering into the compact; 
that the: Federal Constitution is a confederation in the nature of a | 
treaty, or an alliance, by which so many sovereign states agreed to 
exercise their sovereign powers conjointly upon certain objects of 
external concern, in which they are equally interested, such as 
WAR, PEACE, COMMERCE, foreign negotiation, and Indian 
trade; and, upon all other subjects of civil government, they were 
to exercise their sovereignty separately. 


“For the convenient conjoint exercise of the sovereignty of the 
states, there must, of necessity, be some common agency or func- 
tionary. This agency is the Federal Government. It represents 
the confederated states, and executes their joint will, as expressed 
in the compact. The powers of this Government are wholly 
derivative. It possesses no more inherent sovereignty than an 
incorporated town, or any other great corporate body. It is a 
political corporation, and, like all corporations, it looks for its 
powers to an exterior source—that source is the states. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 405 


“South Carolina claims that, by the declaration of inde- 
pendence, she became, and has ever since continued, a free, sov- 
ereign, and independent state. 

“That, as a sovereign state, she has the zuherent power to do all 
those acts which, by the law of nations, any prince or potentate 
may ofrightdo. ‘That, like all independent states, she neither has, 
nor ought she to suffer any other restraint upon her sovereign will 
and pleasure, than those high moral obligations, under which all 
_ princes and states are bound, before God and man, to perform 

their solemn pledges. The inevitable conclusion, from’ what has 
been said, therefore, is, that, as in all cases of compact between 
independent sovereigns, where, from the very nature of things, 
there can be no common judge or umpire, each sovereign has a 
right ‘ to judge, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure 
of redress,’ so, in the present controversy between South Carolina 
and the Federal Government, it belongs solely to her, by her del- 
egates in solemn Convention assembled, to decide whether the 
Federal compact be violated, and what remedy the state ought to 
pursue. South Carolina, therefore, cannot, and will not, yield to 
any department of the Federal Government a right which enters 
into the essence of all sovereignty, and without which it would 
become a bauble and a name.’ 

“Such are the doctrines which South Carolina has, through her 
convention, solemnly promulgated to the world, and, by them, she 
will stand or fall. Such were the principles promulgated by 
Virginia in ‘98, and which then received the sanction of those great 
men, whose recorded sentiments have come down to us as a light 
to our feet and a lamp to our path. It is Virginia, and not South 
Carolina, who speaks, when it is said that she ‘ views the powers 
of the Federal Government, as resulting from the compact to which 
the states are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of 
the instrument constituting that compact, as no further valid 
than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that com- 
pact; and that, in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous 
exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the 
states who are parties ‘thereto have the right, and are, in duty 
bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for 
maintaining, within their respective limits, the ‘ authorities, rights, 
and liberties, appertaining to them.’ 

“Tt is Kentucky, who declared in ‘99, speaking in the explicit 
language of Thomas Jefferson, that the ‘ principles and construc- 
tion contended for by members of the state legislatures (the very 
same now maintained by the President), that the General Govern- 
ment is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated 
to it, stop nothing short of despotism; since the discretion of 
those who administer the Government, and not the Constitution, 
would be the measure of their powers: That the several states who 
formed the instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the 

unquestionable right to judge of the infraction, and THAT A 


406 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


NULLIFICATION, BY THOSE SOVEREIGNTIES, OF ALL 
UNAUTHORIZED ACTS DONE UNDER COLOR OF THAT 
INSTRUMENT, IS THE RIGHTFUL REMEDY.’ 

“Tt is the great apostle of American liberty himself who has 
consecrated these principles and left them as a legacy to the 
American people, recorded by his own hand. It is by him that we 
are instructed*—that to the Constitutional compact ‘each state 
acceded as a state, and is an integral party—its co-states forming 
as to itself the other party;’ that ‘they alone, being parties to the 
compact, are solely authorized to judge, in the last resort, of the 
powers exercised under it—Congress being not a party, but merely 
the creature of the compact; that it becomes a sovereign state 
to submit to undelegated, and, consequently, unlimited power, in 
no man or body of men upon earth; that where powers are assumed, 
which have not been delegated (the very case now before us) a 
nullification of the act is the rightful remedy; that every state has 
a natural right, in cases not within the compact (casus non foe- 
deris) to nullify, of their own authority, all assumption of power 
by others within their limits; and that, without this right, they 
would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whomso- 
ever might exercise the right of judgment for them;’ and that, in 
case of acts being passed by Congress ‘so palpably against the 
Constitution, as to amount to an undisguised declaration that the 
compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the 
General Government, but that it will proceed to exercise over the 
states all powers whatsoever, it would be the duty of the states to 
declare the acts void, and of no force, and that each should take 
measures of its own for providing that neither such acts, nor any 
other of the General Government, not plainly and intentionally 
authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their 
respective territories.’ 


“It is on these great and essential truths that South Carolina 
has now acted. Judging for herself as a sovereign state, she has 
pronounced the protecting system, in all its branches, to be a 
‘gross, deliberate, and palpable violation of the constitutional 
compact; and, having eshausted every other means of redress, 
she has, in the exercise of her sovereign rights, as one of the parties 
to that compact, and in the performance of a high and sacred 
duty, interposed for arresting the evil of usurpation, within her 
own limits, by declaring these acts to be ‘ null, void, and no law, 
and taking measures’ of her own, that they shall not be enforced 
within her limits.’ 

“South Carolina has not ‘ assumed’ what could be considered 
as at all doubtful, when she asserts ‘ that the acts in question were 
in reality intended for the protection of manufactures;’ that their 
‘operation is unequal;’ that ‘the amount received by them is 


*See original draught of the Kentucky Resolutions, in the handwriting 
of Mr. Jackson, lately published by his grandson. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 407 


greater than is required by the wants of the Government;’ and, 
finally, ‘ that the proceeds are to be applied to objects unauthor- 
ized by the Constitution.’ These facts are notorious—these 
objects openly avowed. The President, without instituting any 
inquisition into motives, has himself discovered and publicly 
denounced them; and his officer of finance is, even now, devising 
measures intended, as we are told, to correct these acknowledged 
abuses. : 

“Tt is a vain and idol dispute about words, to ask whether 
this right of state interposition may be most properly styled a 
constitutional, a sovereign, or a reserved right. In calling this 
right constitutional, it could never have been intended to claim 
it as a right granted by, or derived from, the Constitution, but it 
is claimed as consistent with its genius, its letter, and its spirit; 
it being not only distinctly understood, at the time of ratifying 
the Constitution, but expressly provided for in the instrument it- 
self, that all sovereign rights, not agreed to be exercised conjointly, 
should be exerted separately by the states. Virginia declared, 
in reference to right asserted in the resolutions of ‘98, above quoted, 
even after having fully and accurately re-examined and re-consider- 
ed these resolutions, ‘that she found it to be her indispensable duty 
to adhere to the same, as founded in truth, as consonant with the 
Constitution, and as conducive to its welfare,’ and Mr. Madison 
himself asserted them to be perfectly ‘constitutional and con- 
ewe, ; 

“Tt is wholly immaterial, however, by what name this right 
may be called, for if the Constitution be ‘a compact to which 
the states are parties, if acts of the Federal Government are 
no further valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated 
in that compact;’ then we have the authority of Mr. Madison 
himself for the inevitable conclusion that it is a plain principle, 
illustrated by common practice, and essential to the nature of 
compacts, that when resort can be had to no tribunal superior to 
the authority of the parties, the parties themselves must be the 
rightful judge in the last resort, whether the bargain made has 
been pursued or violated.’ The Constitution, continues Mr. Mad- 
ison, ‘ was.formed by the sanction of the states, given by each in its 
sovereign capacity: the states then being parties to the consti- 
tutional compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows, of 
necessity, that there can be no tribunal above their authority, to 
decide, in the last resort, whether the compact made by them be 
violated; and, consequently, that, as the parties to it, they must 
themselves decide in the last resort such questions as may be of 
sufficient magnitude to require their interposition.’ 

“Tf this right does not exist in the several States, then it is 
clear that the discretion of Congress, and not the Constitution, 
would be the measure of their powers, and this, says Mr. Jefferson, 
would amount to the ‘ seizing the rights of the states, and consol- 
idating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power 


a 


408 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


assumed to bind the states, not only in cases made Federal, but 
in all cases whatsoever; which would be to surrender the form of 
government we have chosen, to live under one deriving its power 
from its own will.’ 

“We hold it to be impossible to.resist the argument, that the 
several states, as sovereign parties to the compact, must possess 
the power, in cases of ‘ gross, deliberate, and palpable violation of 
the Constitution, to judge, each for stself, as well of the infraction, 
as of the mode and measure of redress,’ or ours is a CONSOL- 
IDATED GOVERNMENT, ‘without limitation of powers;’ 
a submission to which Mr. Jefferson has solemnly pronounced 
to be a greater evil than disunion itself. If, to borrow the lan- 
guage of Madison’s report, ‘ the deliberate exercise of dangerous 
powers, palpably withheld by the Constitution, could not justify 
the parties to it 1m interposing, even so far as to arrest the progress 
of the evil, and thereby to PRESERVE THE CONSTITUTION 
ITSELF, as well as to provide the safety of the parties to it, there 
would be an end to all relief from usurped power, and a direct 
subversion of the rights specified or recognized under all the state 
Constitutions, as well as a plain denial of the fundamental prin- 
ciple on which our independence itself was declared.’ 

“The only plausible objection that can be urged against 
this right, so indispensable to the safety of the states, is, that it 
may be abused. But this danger is believed to be altogether 
imaginary. So long as our Union is felt as a blessing—and this 
will be just so long as the Federal Government shall confine its 
operation within the acknowledged limits of the charter—there 
will be no tempation for any state to interfere with the harmon- 
ious operation of the system. There will exist the strongest 
motives to induce forbearance, and none to prompt to aggression 
on eisher side, so soon as it shall come to be universally felt and 
acknowledged that the states do not stand to the Union in the 
relation of degraded and dependant colonies, but that our bond 
of union is formed by mutual sympathies and common interests. 
The true answer to this objection has been given by Mr. Madison, 
when he says: 

“Tt does not follow, however, that because the, states, as 
sovereign parties to the constitutional compact, must ultimately 
decide whether it has been violated, that such a decision ought to 
be interposed either in the hasty manner; or on doubtful and in- 
ferior occasions. Even in the case of ordinary conventions between 
different nations, it is always laid down, that the breach must be 
both wilful and material to justify an application of the rule. But 
in the case of an intimate and constitutional union, like that of 
the United States, it is evident that the interposition of the par- 
ties, in their sovereign capacity, can be called for by occasions only, 
deeply and essentially affecting the vital principles of their polit- 
ical system. : 

‘Experience demonstrates that the danger is not that a state 


e 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 409 


will resort to her sovereign rights too frequently, or on light and 
trival occasions, but that she may shrink from asserting them as 
often as may be necessary. 

“Tt is maintained by South Carolina, that, according to the true 
spirit of the Constitution, it becomes Congress, in all emergencies 
like the present either to remove the evil by legislation, or to solicit 
of the States the call of a Convention; and that on a failure to 
obtain, by the consent of three-fourths of all the states, an amend- 
ment giving the disputed power, it must be regarded as never hay- 
ing been intended to be given. These principles have been dis- 
tinctly recognized by the President himself in his message to 
Congress at the commencement of the present session, and they 
seem only to be impracticable absurdities when asserted by South 
Carolina, or made applicable to her existing controversy with the 
Federal Government. 

“But it seems that South Carolina receives from the President 
no credit for her sincerity, when it is declared, through her Chief 
Magistrate, that ‘she sincerely and anxiously seeks and desires’ 
the submission of her grievances to a Convention of all the States. 
‘The only alternative (says the President) which she presents, is 
the repeal of all the acts for raising revenue; leaving the Govern- 
ment without the means of support, or an acquiescence in the 
dissolution of our Union.’ South Carolina has presented no such 
alternatives. If the President had read the documents which the 
Convention caused to be forwarded to him for the express purpose 
of making known her wishes and her views, he would have found 
that South Carolina asks no more than that the tariff should be 
reduced to the revenue standard; and has distinctly expressed 
her willingness, that ‘an amount of duties substantially uniform, 
should be levied upon protected, as well as unprotected articles, 
sufficient to raise the revenue necessary to meet the demands of the 
Government for constitutional purposes.’ He would have found 
in the exposition put forth by the Convention itself, a distinct 
appeal to our sister states for the call of a Convention, and the 
expression of an entire willingness, on the part of South Carolina, 
to submit the controversy to that tribunal. Even at the very 
moment when he was indulging in these unjust and injurious im- 
putations upon the people of South Carolina, and their late highly 
respected Chief Magistrate, a resolution had actually been passed 
through both branches of our legislature, demanding a call of 
that very Convention to which he declares that she had no desire 
that an appeal should be made. 

“It does not become the dignity of a sovereign state to notice, 
in the spirit which might be considered as belonging to the oc- 
casion, the unwarrantable imputations in which the President has 
thought proper to indulge in relation to South Carolina, the pro- 
ceedings of her citizens and constituted authorities. He has 
noticed, only to give it countenance, that miserable slander which 
imputes the noble stand that our people have taken in defense of 


410 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


their rights and liberties, to a faction instigated by the efforts 
of a few ambitious leaders who have got up an exictement for 
their own personal aggrandizement. The motives and character 
of those who have been subjected to these unfounded imputations, 
are beyond the reach of the President of the United States. The 
sacrifices they have made, and difficulties and trials through 
which they may have yet to pass, will leave no doubt as to the dis- 
interested motives and noble impulses of patriotism and honor by 
which they are actuated. Could they have been induced to sep- 
arate their own personal interests from those of the people of South 
Carolina, and have consented to abandon their duty to the state, 
no one knows better than the President himself that they might 
have been honored with the highest manifestations of public re- 
gard; and perhaps, instead of being the objects of vituperation, 
might even now have been basking in the sunshine of Executive 
favor. ‘This topic is alluded to, merely for the purpose of guarding 
the people of our sister states against the fatal delusion that South 
Carolina has assumed her present position under the influence of a 
temporary excitement; and to warn them that it has been the re- 
sult of the slow but steady progress of public opinion for the last 
ten years: that it is the act of the people themselves, taken in 
conformity with the spirit of resolutions repeatedly adopted in 
their primary assemblies, and the solemn determination of the 
legislature, publicly announced more than two years ago. Let 
them not so far deceive themselves on this subject, as to persevere 
in a course which must in the end inevitably produce a dissolution 
of the Union, under the vain expectation that the great body of the 
people of South Carolina, listening to the councils of the Pres- 
ident, will acknowledge their error or retrace theiresteps, and still 
less than they will be driven from the vindication of their rights 
by the intimation of the danger of domestic discord, and threats 
of lawless violence. ‘The brave men who have thrown themselves 
into the breach, in defense of the rights and liberties of their country 
are not to be driven from their holy purpose by such means. Even 
unmerited obloquy, and death itself, have no terrors for him who 
feels and knows that he is engaged in the performance of a sacred 
duty. The people of South Carolina are well aware that, however 
passion and prejudice may obtain, for a season, the mastery of the 
public mind, reason and justice must sooner or later re-assert their 
empire: and that whatever may be the event of this contest, pos- 
terity will do justice to their motives, and to the spotless purity 
and devoted patriotism with which they have entered into an ar- 
duous and most unequal conflict, and the unfaltering courage with 
which, by the blessing of Heaven, they will maintain it. 

‘’The whole argument, so far as it is designed at this time to 
enter into it, is now disposed of; and it is necessary to advert to 
some passages in the proclamation which cannot be passed over in 
silence. ‘The President distinctly intimates that it is his determ- 
ination to exert the right of putting down the opposition of South 


MAHLON DICKERSON, 1770-1853 


Secetary of the Navy under both Jackson and Van Buren, June 30, 1834 to June 25, 1838. 


From National Portrait Gallery. Painted by John Vanderlyn, 1775-1852. Governor of 


New Jersey 1815-1817; United States Senator 1817-1829; United States District Judge 
of New Jersey 


Ree ae 


« 


JOHN M. BERRIEN, 1781-1856. 


Attorney General in Jackson's Cabinet March 9, 1829 to June 22, 1831; United States 
Senator 1825-1829, 1841-1845, 1845-1852. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarRLy TENNESSEE HIstToRY 411 


Carolina to the tariff; by force of arms. He believes himself in- 
vested with power to do this under that provision of the Constitu- 
tion which directs him ‘to take care that the laws be faithfully 
executed.’ Now, if by this it was only meant to be asserted that, 
under the laws of Congress now of force, the President would feel 
himself bound to aid the civil tribunals in the manner therein 
prescribed, supposing such laws to be constitutional, no just ex- 
ception could be taken to this assertion of Executive duty. But if, 
as is manifestly intended, the President sets up the claim to judge 
for himself in what manner the laws are to be enforced, and feels 
himself at liberty to call forth the militia, and even the military 
and naval forces of the Union against the State of South Carolina, 
her constituted authorities and citizens, then it is clear that he 
assumes a power not only not conferred on the Executive by the 
Constitution, but which belongs to no despot upon earth exercising 
a less unlimited authority than the Autocrat of all the Russias: 
an authority which, if submitted to, would at once reduce the free 
people of these United States to a state of the most abject and 
degraded slavery. But the President has no power whatsoever 
to execute the laws except in the mode and manner prescribed by 
the laws themsélves. On looking into these laws, it will be seen 
that he has no shadow or semblance of authority to execute any 
of the threats which he has thrown out against the good people of 
South Carolina. The act of 28th February, 1795, gives the Pres- 
ident authority to call forth the militia in case of invasion ‘ by a 
foreign nation or Indian tribe.’ By the 2d section of that act, it 
is provided that ‘ whenever the laws of the United States shall be 
opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in any state, by com- 
binations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of 
judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals 
by this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United 
States to call forth the militia of such state, or of any other state 
or states, as may be necessary to suppress such combinations, and 
to cause the laws to be duly executed.’ 

‘The words here used, though they might be supposed to be 
very comprehensive in their import, are restrained by those which 
follow. By the next section it is declared that ‘ whenever it may 
be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the mil- 
itary force hereby directed to be called forth, the President shall 
forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse 
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited 
time.’ On reading these two sections together, it is manifest that 
they relate entirely to combinations of individuals acting of them- 
selves without any lawful authority. They constituted author- 
ities acting under the laws of the state, and its citizens yielding 
obedience to its commands, cannot possibly be considered as a mere 
mob forming combinations against the authority and laws of the 
Union, to be dispersed by an Executive proclamation; and any at- 
tempt so to treat them would be a gross and palpable violation 


412 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


of the sovereign authority of the state, and an offense punishable 
criminally in her own courts. Whether the late proclamation of 
the President was intended as a compliance with the provisions of 
this act, does not very clearly appear. But if so, it can only be con- 
sidered as directed against the state, since the laws of the United 
states have certainly not been forcibly obstructed by combinations 
of any sort, and it is certainly worthy of observation that the com- 
mand ‘extended to the people is nét that they shall disperse, but 
that they should re-assemble in Convention, and repeal the ob- 
noxious ordinance. 

‘“The power of the President, so far as this subject is embraced, 
in relation to the army and navy, is exactly coextensive with that 
over the militia. By the 1st section of act of 3d March, 1807, it is 
expressly provided that, in all cases of ‘ obstruction to the laws of 
the United States, or of any individual state, where it is lawful 
for the President to call forth the militia for the purpose of causing 
the laws to be duly executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ, 
for the same purpose, such part of the land or naval force of the 
United States as may be necessary, having first observed all the 
pre-requisites of the law in that respect.’ Here, then, it is seen, 
that unless the President is resolved to disregard all constitutional 
obligations, and to trample the laws of his country under his feet, 
he has no authority whatever to use force against the State of South 
Carolina; and, should he attempt to do so, the patriotic citizens 
of this state know too well their own rights, and have too sacred a 
regard to their duties, to hesitate one moment in repelling invas- 
ion, come from what quarter it may. Could they be deterred by 
the threats of lawless violence, or any apprehension of conse- 
quences, from the faithful performance of their duty, they would 
feel that they were the unworthy descendants of the ‘ Pinckneys, 
Sumpters, and Rutledges, and a thousand other names which 
adorn the pages of our revolutionary history,’ some of whom have 
just gone from among us, and been gathered to their fathers, leav- 
ing as a legacy their solemn injunction that we should never aban- 
don this contest until we shall have obtained ‘ a fresh understand- 
ing of the bargain,’ and restored the liberties for which they fought 
and bled. Others still linger among us, animating us by their ex- 
ample, and exhorting us to maintain that ‘ solemn ordinance and 
declaration ’ which they have subseribed with their own names, 
and in support of which they have ‘ pledged their lives, their for- 
tunes, and their sacred honor.’ 

‘The annals which record the struggles of freedom, show us 
that rulers in every age and every country, jealous of their power, 
have resorted to the very same means to extinguish in the bosom 
of man that noble instinct of liberty which prompts him to resist 
oppression. The system by which tyrants in every age have at- 
tempted to obliterate this sentiment, and to crush the spirit of the 
people, consists in the skilful employment of promises and threats, 
in alternate efforts to encourage their hopes and excite their fears, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 413 


to show that existing evils are exaggerated, the danger of resistance 
great—and the difficulties in the way of success insuperable; and, 
finally, to show dissensions among the people by creating jeal- 
ousies, and exciting a distrust of those whose counsels and example 
may be supposed to have an important bearing on the success of 
their cause. 

“These, with animated appeals to the loyalty of the people, 
and an imposing array of military force, constitute the means by 
which the people have in every age been reduced to slavery. When 
we turn to the pages of our own history, we find that such were 
the measures resorted to at the commencement of our own glorious 
revolution, to keep our fathers in subjection to Great Britain; 
and such are the means now used to induce the people of Carolina 
to ‘ retrace their steps, and to remain forever degraded colonists, 
governed not in reference to their own interests, but the interests 
of others. Our fathers were told, as we now are, that their griev- 
ances were in a great measure imaginary. They were promised, 
as we have been, that those grievances should be redressed. They 
were told, as we now are, that the people were misled by a few 
designing men, whose object was a dissolution of the Union, and 
their own self aggrandizement. They were told, as we now are, 
of the danger that would be incurred by disobedience to the laws. 
The power and resources of the mother country were then, as now, 
ostentatiously displayed in insulting contrast with the scattered 
population and feeble resources on which we could alone rely. 
And the punishment due to treason and rebellion were held out 
as the certain fate of all who should disregard the paternal efforts 
of their Royal Master to bring back his erring children to the arms 
of their indulgent mother. They were commanded, as we have 
been, to “retrace their steps.’ But though divided among them- 
selves, to a greater extent than we are now, without an organized 
Government, and destitute of arms and resources of every descrip- 
tion, they bid defiance to the tyrant’s power, and refused obedience 
to his commands. They incurred the legal guilt of rebellion, and 
braved the dangers, both of the scabbord and the field, in opposition 
to the colossal power of their acknowledged sovereign, rather than 
submit to the imposition of taxes, light and inconsiderable in them- 
selves, but, imposed, without their consent, for the benefit of others. 
And what is our present condition? We have an organized 
Government, and a pupulation three times as great as that which 
existed in ‘76. We are maintaining not only the rights and liber- 
ties of the people, but the sovereignty of our own state, against 
whose authority rebellion may be committed, but in obedience to 
whose commands no man can commit treason. We are struggling 
against unconstitutional and oppressive taxation imposed upon 
us, not only without our consent, but in defiance of our repeated 
remonstrances and solemn protests. In such a quarrel our duty 
to our country, ourselves, and our posterity, is too plain to be 
mistaken. We will stand upon the soil of Carolina, and maintain 


414 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


the sovereign authority of the state, or be buried beneath its ruins, 
an unhappy Poland fell before the power of the Autocrat, so may 
Carolina be crushed by the power of her enemies—but Poland was 
not surrounded by free and independent states, interested, like her- 
self, in preventing the establishment of the very tyranny which they 
are called upon to impose upon a sister state. If, in spite of our 
common kindred, and common interests, the glorious recollections 
of the past, and the proud hopes of the future, South Carolina 
should be coldly abandoned to her fate, and reduced to subjection 
by an unholy combination among her sister states—which is 
believed to be utterly impossible and the doctrines promulgated 
by the President are to become the foundations of a new system 
cemented by the blood of our citizens, it matters not what may 
be our lot. Under such a Government, as there could be no liberty, 
so there could be no security either for our persons or our property. 

“But there is one consolation, of which, in the providence of 
God, no people can be deprived without their own consent—the 
proud consciousness of having done their duty. If our country 
must be enslaved, let her not be dishonored by her own sons! 
Let them not ‘ forge the chains themselves by which their liberttes are 
to be menacled.’ 

“The President has intimated in his proclamation that a 
‘standing army is about to be raised to carry secession into effect. 
South Carolina desires that her true position shall be clearly under- 
stood both at home and abroad. Her object is not ‘ disunion.’ 
She has raised no ‘standing army,’ and if driven to repel invasion 
or resist aggresion, she will do so by the strong arms and stout 
hearts of her citizens. South Carolina has solemnly proclaimed her 
purpose; that purpose is the vindication of her rights. She has 
professed a sincere attachment to the Union: and that, to the 
utmost of her power, she will endeavor to preserve it, ‘ but believes 
that, for this end, it is her duty to watch over and oppose any 
infraction of those principles which constitute the only basis of 
that Union, because a faithful observance of them can alone secure 
its existence; that she venerates the Constitution, and will protect 
and defend it ‘ against every aggression, either foreign or domestic; 
but, above all, that she estimates, as beyond all price, her liberty, 
which she is unalterably determined never to surrender while she 
has the power to maintain it.’ 

‘The President denies, in the most positive terms the right of 
state under any circumstances, to secede from the Union, and 
puts this denial on the ground ‘that, from the time the states 
parted with so many pawers as to constitute jointly with the other 
states a single nation, they cannot, from that period, possess 
any right to secede.’ What then remains of those ‘ fights of the 
state’ for which the President professes so ‘high a reverence?’ 
In what do they consist? and by what tenure are they held? 
T he uncontrolled will of the Federal Government. Like any other 
petty corporation, the states may exert such powers, and such only, 
as may be permitted by their superiors. When they step beyond 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 415 


these limits, even a federal officer will set at nought their decrees, 
repeal their solemn ordinances, proclaim their citizens to be 
traitors, and reduce them to subjection by military force; and if 
driven to desperation, they should seek a refuge in secession, they 
are to be told that they have bound themselves to those who 
have perpetrated or permitted these enormities, in the iron bonds 
of a ‘ perpetual Union.’ 

“Tf these principles could be established, then indeed would 
the days of our liberty be numbered, and the republic will have 
found a master. If South Carolina had not already taken her 
stand against the usurpation of the Federal Government, here 
would have been an occasion, when she must have felt herself 
impelled, by every impulse of patriotism and every sentiment of 
duty, to stand forth in open defiance of the arbitrary decrees of 
the Executive, when a sovereign state is denounced, her authority 
derided, the allegiance of her citizens denied, and she is threatened 
with military power to reduce her to obedience to the will of one 
of the functionaries of the Federal Government, by whom she is 
commanded to ‘ tear from her archives’ her most solemn decrees. 
Surely the time has come when it must be seen whether the people 
of the several states have indeed lost the spirit of the revolution, 
and whether they are to become the willing instruments of an 
unhallowed despotism. In such a sacred cause, South Carolina 
will feel that she is striking not for her own, but the liberties of 
the Union and the rights of man; and she confidently trusts that 
the issue of this contest will be an example to freemen and a lesson 
to rulers throughout the world. 

“Fellow-citizens: In the name and behalf of the State of 
South Carolina, I do once more solemnly warn you against all 
attempts to seduce you from your primary allegiance to the state. 
I charge you to be faithful to your duty as citizens of South Car- 
olina, and earnestly exhort you to disregard those ‘ vain menaces’ 
of military force, which, if the President, in violation of all his 
constitutional obligations, and of your most sacred rights, should 
be tempted to employ, it would become your solemn duty, at all 
hazards, to resist. I require you to be fully prepared to sustain 
the dignity and protect the liberties of the state, if need be, with 
‘your lives and fortunes.’ And may that great and good Being, 
who, as a ‘ father careth for his children,’ inspire us with that holy 
zeal in a good cause, which is the best safeguard of our rights and 
liberties. 

“Tn testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the state 

to be hereunto affixed, and have signed the same with 

(L. S.) my hand. Done at Columbia, this 20th day of Dec- 
cember, in the year of our Lord, 1832, and in the 
independence of the United States, the Fifty-seventh. 


“Robert Y. Hayne. 
“By the Governor: 
“Samuel Hammond, Secretary of State.” 


416 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


CHAPTER 16. 


Jackson's paper read to his Cabinet September 
18, 1833, on “Removal of the Deposits.” 


Bea ab asasamasaasec gases asasas Sasa asaseSe5asasas asa alas asasasasaa asset as aGaas aCaGae Rese 


; The two events in the history of Andrew Jackson, which con- 

clusively stamp him as a man superlatively fearless in the discharge 
of what he considered his duty, are the removal of the Government 
deposits from the United States bank, and the issuing of the 
Proclamation to the Nullifiers of South Carolina. 

His personal friends and advisors and his Cabinet were divided 
on removing the deposits. Jackson, without hesitation, promptly 
assumed all responsibility for the removal, and he let it be known 
all over the country that no one but himself had any responsibility 
connected with it. His bitter hatred for the bank as a public in- 
stitution, and his professed and freely expressed opinion that the 
bank was a corrupting agency, not only in Congress, but wherever 
its activities reached, called from him always and everywhere the 
declaration that it must be destroyed for the peace and happiness 
of the Country. 

' “Removing the Deposits” was an inaccurate statement of what 
General Jackson did. He did, in fact, remove no deposits at all; 
but the Revenue Collectors were instructed to put no more money 
in the bank, and the money already there was to be drawn out as 
the necessities of the Government called for. 

Jackson never dodged responsibilities, great or small, and re- 
moving the deposits was one of the greatest and most far reaching 
any public official ever assumed in civil life. His logic was simple, 
and, to him, conclusive. He reasoned that the Government’s 
money put in the bank belonged to the people of the United 
States, and that Congress was supposed to be the representative 
of the people, acting always for their good, and that the people’s 
money should not be allowed to be used to corrupt their represent- 
atives and cause them to betray their constituencies, and that 
the bank should be deprived of all means of bringing this about. 
In other words, removing the deposits was a part of the program 
laid out by Old Hickory to destroy the bank. He held that de- 
stroying the bank had been one of the issues submitted to the 


LEWIS CASS, 1782-1866. 


Secretary of War, August 1, 1831 to October 5, 1836 in Jackson’s Cabinet. 
National Portrait Gallery. 


LOUIS McLANE, 1786-1857. 
Tenth Secretary of the Treasury, Jackson's Cabinet, August 8, 1831 to May 29, 
1833; Secretary of State May 29, 1833 to June 2, 1834; from National Portrait 
Gallery; Member of Congress from Delaware 1817-1827, United States Senator 
1827-1829; Minister to England 1829-1831 and 1845-1846; President of 
Baltimore and Ohio R. R. 1837-1847, 


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ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 417 


people in his election the second time, and that the overwhelming 
majority he received—Clay got only forty-eight electoral votes— 
conclusively proved that the people wanted the bank destroyed, 
and that removing the deposits as a means to its destruction, was 
in accordance with the wishes of the voters who re-elected him. 

As stated, his advisors and supporters were divided on the 
question, and looking at it in the calm light of history, it appears 
now that there was ample room for a division of opinion. 

Thomas H. Benton in his ‘““Thirty Years View’’ makes this 
striking comment on Jackson’s act. 


“I was in the State of Virginia when the Globe newspaper 
arrived, towards the end of September, bringing this Paper which 
the President had read to his Cabinet, and the further information 
that he had carried his announced design into effect. I felt an 
emotion of the moral sublime to behold such an instant of civic 
heroism. Here was a President, not bred up in the political 
profession, taking a great step upon his own responsibility, from 
which many of his advisors shrunk; and magnanimously, in the 
act itself, releasing all from the peril that he encountered, boldly 
taking the whole upon himself. I say peril, for if the bank should 
conquer, there was an end to the political prospects of every public 
man concurring in the removal. He believed the act to be nec- 
essary, and, believing that, he did the act, leaving the consequences 
to God and the Country. 

“T feel that a great blow had been struck and that a great 
contest must come off, which could only be crowned with success 
by acting up to the spirit with which it had commenced, and I 
repaired to Washington, on the approach of the session, with a 
full determination to stand by the President, which I believe to be 
standing by the Country; and do my part in justifying his conduct, 
and in the exposing and resisting the powerful combination which 
it was certain would be formed against him.” 

The President said: “‘Having carefully and anxiousiy considered 
all the facts and arguments which have been submitted to him 
relative to a removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the 
United States, the President deems it his duty to communicate in 
this manner to his Cabinet the final conclusions of his own mind 
and the reasons on which they are founded, in order to put them 
in durable form and to prevent misconceptions. 

“The President’s convictions of the dangerous tendencies of © 
the Bank of the United States, since signally illustrated by its 
own acts, were so overpowering when he entered on the duties of 
Chief Magistrate that he felt it his duty, notwithstanding the ob- 
jections of the friends by whom he was surrounded, to avail him- 
self of the first occasion to call the attention of Congress and the 
people to the question of its re-charter. The opinions expressed 
in his annual message of December, 1829, were reiterated in those 


27 


418 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


of December, 1830 and 1831, and in that of 1830 he threw out for 
consideration some suggestions in relation to a substitute. At 
the session of 1831-32 an act was passed by a majority of both 
Houses of Congress re-chartering the present bank upon which the 
President felt it his duty to put his constitutional veto. In his 
message returning that act he repeated and enlarged upon the 
principles and views briefly asserted in his annual message, de- 
claring the bank to be, in his opinion, both inexpedient and un- 
constitutional, and announcing to his countrymen very unequi- 
vocally his firm determination never to sanction by his approval 
the continuance of that institution or the establishment of any 
other upon similar principles. 

“There are strong reasons for believing that the motive of the 
bank in asking for a re-charter at that session of Congress was to 
make it a leading question in the election of a President of the 
United States the ensuing November, and all steps deemed nec- 
essary were taken to procure from the people a reversal of the 
‘President’s decision. 

“Although the charter was approaching its termination, and 
the bank was aware that it was the intention of the Government to 
use the public deposit as fast as it has accrued in the payment of 
the public debt, yet did it extend its loans from January, 1831, 
to may, 1832, from $42,402,304.24 to $70,428,070.72 being an 
increase of $28,025,766.48 in sixteen months. It is confidently 
believed that the leading object of this immense extension of its 
loans was to bring as large a portion of the people as possible 
under its power and influence, and it has been disclosed that 
some of the largest sums were granted on very unusual terms to 
the conductors of the public press. In some of these cases the 
motive was made manifest by the nominal or insufficient security 
taken for the loans, by the large amounts discounted, by the ex- 
traordinary time allowed for payment, and especially by the sub- 
sequent conduct of those receiving the accommodations. 

“Having taken these preliminary steps to obtain control over 
public opinion, the bank came into Congress and asked a, new 
charter. The object avowed by many of the advocates of the 
bank was to put the President to the test, that the country might 
know his final determination relative to the bank prior to the 
ensuing election. Many documents and articles were printed and 
circulated at the expense of the bank to bring the people to a 
favorable decision upon its pretensions. Those whom the bank 
appears to have made its debtors for the special occasion were 
warned of the ruin which awaited them should the President be 
sustained, and attempts were made to alarm the whole people by 
painting the depression in the price of property and produce and 
the general loss, inconvenience, and distress which it was represen- 
ted would immediately follow the re-election of the President in 
opposition to the bank. 

“Can it now be said that the question of a re-charter of the 


\ 


} 
ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 419 


bank ~{ is not decided at the election which ensued? Had the veto 
been 4 uivocal, or had it not covered the whole ground; if it 
had 1* rely taken exceptions to the details of the bill or to the 
time «its passage; if it had not met the whole ground of con- 
stituti*nality and expediency, then there might have been some 
plausibility for the allegation that the question was not decided 
by the people. It was to compel the President to take his stand 
that the question was brought forward at that particular time. 
He met the challenge, willingly took the position into which his 
adversaries sought to force him, and frankly declared his un- 
alterable opposition to the bank as being both unconstitutional 
and inexpedient. On that ground the case was argued to the 
people; and now that the people have sustained the President, 
notwithstanding the array of influence and power which was 
brought to bear upon him, it is too late, he confidently thinks, 
to say that the question has not been decided. Whatever may 
be the opinions of others, the President considers his re-election 
as a decision of the people against the bank. In the concluding 
paragraph of his veto message he said: 

‘““*T have now done my duty to my country. If sustained by 
my fellow-citizens, I shall be greatful and happy; if not, I shall 
find in the motives which impel me ample grounds for contentment 
and peace.’ 

“He was sustained by a just people, and he desires to evince 
his gratitude by carrying into effect their decision so far as it 
depends upon him. 

“Of all the substitutes for the present bank which have been 
suggested, none seems to have united any considerable portion of 
the public in its favor. Most of them are liable to the same 
constitutional objection for which the present bank has been con- 
demned, and perhaps to all there are strong objections for which 
the present bank has been condemned, and perhaps to all there 
are strong objections on the score of expedience. In ridding the 
country of an irresponsible power which has attempted to control 
the Government, care must be taken not to unite the same power 
with the executive branch. To give a President the control over 
the currency and the power over individuals now possessed by 
the Bank of the United States, even with the material difference 
that he is responsible to the people, would be as objectionable 
and as dangerous as to leave it as itis. Neither one nor the other 
is necessary and therefore ought not to be resorted to. 

“On the whole, the President considers it as conclusively 
settled that the charter of the Bank of the United States will not 
be renewed, and he has no reasonable ground to believe that any 
substitute will be established. Being bound to regulate his course 
by the laws as they-exist, and not to anticipate the interference of 
the legislative power for the purpose of framing new systems, 
it is proper for him seasonably to consider the means by which the 
services rendered by the Bank of the United States are to be per- 
formed after its charter shall expire. 


420 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToly 


‘“The existing laws declare that: 

*‘ ‘The deposits of the money of the United States in oes in 
which the said bank and branches thereof may be established shall 
be made in said bank or branches thereof unless the Secretary 
of the Treasury shall at any time otherwise order and direct, in 
which case the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately lay 
before Congress, if in session, and, if not, immediately after the 
commencement of the next session, the reasons for such order or 
direction.’ 

“The power of the Secretary of the Treasury over the deposits 
is unqualified. ‘The provision that he shall report his reasons to 
Congress is no limitation. Had it not been inserted he would 
have been responsible to Congress had he made a removal for any 
other than good reasons, and his responsibility now ceases upon 
the rendition of sufficient ones to Congress. The only object of the 
provision is to make his reasons accessible to Congress and enable 
that body the more readily to judge of their soundness and purity, 
and thereupon to make such further provision by law as the leg- 
islative power may think proper in relation to the deposit of the 
public money. ‘Those reasons may be very diversified. It was 
asserted by the Secretary of the Treasury, without contradiction, 
as early as 1817, that he had power, ‘ to control the proceedings ’ 
of the Bank of the United States at any moment ‘by changing the 
deposits to the State Banks,’ should it pursue an illiberal course 
toward those institutions; that ‘the Secretary of the Treasury 
will always be disposed to support the credit of the State Banks, 
and will invariably direct transfers from the deposits of the public 
money in aid of their legitimate exertions to maintain their credit; 
and he asserted a right to employ the State Banks when the Bank 
of the United States should refuse to receive on deposit the notes 
of such State Banks as the public interest required should be 
received in payment of the public dues. In several instances he 
did transfer the public deposits to State Banks in the immediate 
vicinity of branches, for reasons connected only with the safety 
of those banks, the public convenience, and the interests of the 
Treasury. 

“Tt was lawful for Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury 
at that time, to act on these principles, it will be difficult to dis 
cover any sound reason against the application of similar prin- 
ciples in still stronger cases. And it is a matter of surprise that a 
power which in the infancy of the bank was freely asserted as one 
of the ordinary and familiar duties of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
should now be gravely questioned, and attempts made to excite 
and alarm the public mind as if some new and unheard of power 
was about to be usurped by the executive branch of the Govern- 
ment. 

“Tt is but a little more than two and half years to the termina- 
tion of the charter of the present bank. It is considered as the de- 
cision of the country that it shall then cease to exist, and no man, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 421 


the President believes, has reasonable ground for expectation that 
any other Bank of the United States will be created by Congress. 

“To the Treasury Department is intrusted the self-keeping 
and faithful application of the public moneys. A plan of col- 
lection different from the present must therefore be introduced 
and put in complete operation before the dissolution of the present 
bank. When shall it be commenced? Shall no step be taken in 
this essential concern until the charter expires and the Treasury 
find itself without an agent, its accounts in confusion, with no de- 
pository for its funds, and the whole business of the Government 
deranged, or shall it be delayed until six months, or a year, or two 
years before the expiration’ of the charter? It is obvious that any 
new system which may be substituted in the place of the Bank of 
the United States could not be suddenly carried into effect on the 
termination of its existance without serious inconvenience to the 
Government and the people. Its vast amount of notes are then 
to be redeemed and withdrawn from circulation and its immense 
debt collected. ‘These operations must be gradual, otherwise much 
suffering and distress will be brought upon the community. 

“It ought to be not a work of months only, but of years, and 
the President thinks it can not, with due attention to the interests 
of the people, be longer postponed. It is safer to begin it too soon 
than to delay it too long. 

“It is for the wisdom of Congress to decide upon the best sub- 
stitute to be adopted in the place of the Bank of the United States, 
and the president would have left himself relieved from a heavy 
and painful responsibility if in the charter to the bank Congress 
had reserved to itself the elsewhere deposits, and had not devolved 
that power exclusively on one of the Executive Departments. 
It is useless now to inquire why this high and important power was 
surrounded by those who are peculiarly and appropriately the 
guardians of the public money. Perhaps it was an oversight. But 
as the President presumes that the charter to the Bank is to be con- 
sidered as a contract on the part of the Government, it is not now 
in the power of Congress to disregard its stipulations; and by the 
terms of that contract the public money is to be deposited in the 
bank during the continuance of its charter unless the Secretary of 
the Treasury shall otherwise direct. Unless therefore, the Sec- 
retary of the treasury first acts, Congress have no power over the 
subject, but they can not add a new clause to the charter or strike 
one out of it without the consent of the bank, and consequently 
the public money must remain in that institution to the last hour 
of its existence unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall remove 
it at an earlier day. ‘The responsibility is thus thrown upon the 
executive branch of the Government of deciding how long before 
the expiration of the charter the public interest will require the 
deposits to be placed elsewhere; and although according to the 
frame and principle of our Government this decision would seem 
more properly to belong to the legislative power, yet as the law 


422 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


has imposed it upon the executive department the duty ought to be 
faithfully and firmly met, and the decision madeand executed upon 
the best lights that can be obtained and the best judgment that can 
be formed. It would ill become the executive branch of the Gov- 
ernment to shrink from any duty which the law imposes on it, to 
fix upon others the responsibility which justly belong to itself. 
And while the President anxiously wishes to abstain from the 
exercise of doubtful powers and to avoid all |nterference with the 
right and duties of others, he must yet with unshaken constancy 
discharge his own obligations, and can not allow himself to turn 
aside in order to avoid any responsibility which the high trust 
with which he has been honored required him to encounter; and 
it being the duty of one of the Executive Departments to decide 
in the first instance, subject to the future action of the legislative 
power whether the public deposits shall remain in the Bank of the 
United States until the end of its existance or be withdrawn some 
time before, the President has felt himself bound to examine the 
question carefully and deliberately in order to make up his judg- 
ment on the subject, and in his opinion the near approach of the 
termination of the charter and the public considerations heretofore 
mentioned are of themselves amply sufficient to justify the removal 
of the deposits without reference to the conduct of the bank or 
thir safety in its keeping. 

“But in the conduct of the bank may be found other reasons, 
very imperative in their character, and which require prompt ac- 
tion. Developments have been made from time to time of its faith- 
fulness as a public agent, its misapplication of public funds, its 
interference in elections, its efforts by the machinery of committees 
to deprive the Government directors of a full knowledge of its 
concern, and, above all, its fragrant misconduct as recently and 
unexpectedly disclosed in placing all the funds of the bank, includ- 
ing the money of the Government, at the disposition of the presi- 
dent of the bank as means of operating upon public opinion and 
procuring a new charter, without requiring him to render a voucher 
for their disbursement. A brief recapitulation of the facts which 
justify these charges, and which have come to the knowledge of the 
public and the President, will, he thinks, remove every reasonable 
doubt as to the course which it is now the duty of the President to 

ursue. 
A ‘“‘We have seen that in sixteen months ending in May, 1832, the 
bank had extended its loans more than $28,000,000, although it 
knew the Government intended to appropriate most of its large 
deposit during that vear in payment of the public debt. It was 
May, 1832, that its loans arrived at the maximum, and in the pro- 
ceeding March so sensible was the bank that it would not be able 
to pay over the public deposit when it would be required by the 
government that it commenced a secret negotiation, without the 
approbation or knowledge of the Government, with the agents 
for about $2,700,000 of the 3 per cent stocks held in Holland, with 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 423 


a view of inducing them not to come forward for payment for one 
of more years after notice should be given by the Treasury Depart- 
ment. This arrangement would have enabled the bank to keep 
and use during that time the public money set apart for the pay- 
ment of these stocks. 

“After this negotiation had commenced, the Secretary of the 
Treasury informed the bank that it was his intention to pay off 
one-half of the 2 per cent on the Ist of the succeeding July, which 
amounted to about $6,500,000. The president of the bank, al- 
though the committee of investigation was then looking into its 
affairs at Philadelphia, came immediately to Washington, and upon 
representing that the bank was desirous of accommodating the im- 
porting merchants at New York (which it failed to do) and under- 
taking to pay the interest itself, procured the consent of the Sec- 
retary, after consultation with the President, to postpone the pay- 
ment until the succeeding Ist of October. 

“Conscious that at the end of that quarter the bank would not 
be able to pay over the deposits, and that further indulgence was 
not to be expected of the Government, an agent was dispatched to 
England secretly to negotiate with the holders of the public debt 
in Europe and induce them by the offer of an equal or higher-in- 
terest than that paid by the Government to hold back their claims 
for one year, during which the bank expected thus to retain the 
use of $5,000,000 of the public money, which the Government should 
set apart for the payment of that debt. The agent made an ar- 
rangement on terms, in part, which were in direct violation of the 
charter of the bank, and when some incidents connected with this 
secret negotiation accidentaly came to the knowledge of the public 
and the Government, then, and not before, so much of it as was 
palpably in violation of the charter was disavowed. A modifica. - 
tion of the rest was attempted with the view of getting the certif- 
icates without payment of the money, and thus absolving the 
Government from its liability to the holders. In this scheme the 
bank was partially successful, but to this day the certificates of a 
portion of these stocks have not been paid and the bank retains 
the use of the money. 

“This effort to thwart the Government in the payment of the 
public debt that it might retain the public money to be used for 
their private interests, palliated by pretenses notoriously unfound- 
ed and insincere, would have justified the instant withdrawal of 
the public deposits. The negotiation itself rendered doubtful the 
ability of the bank to meet the demands of the Treasury, and the 
misrepresentations by which it was attempted to be justified proved 
that no reliance could be placed upon its allegations. 

“Tf the question of a removal of the deposits presented itself 
to the Executive in the same attitude that it appeared before the 
House of Representatives at their last session, their resolution 
in relation to the safety of the deposits would be entitled to more 
weight, although the decision of the question of removal has been 


424 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


confided by law to another department of the Government. But 
the question now occurs attended by other circumstances and new 
disclosures of the most serious import. It is true that in the mes- 
sage of the President which produced this inquiry and resolution 
on the part of the House of Representatives it was his object 
to obtain the aid of that body in making a thorough examination 
into the conduct and condition of the bank and its branches in 
order to enable the executive department to decide whether the 
public money was longer safe in its hands. ‘The limited power of 
the Secretary of the Treasury over the subject disabled him from 
making the investigation as fully and satisfactorily as it could be 
done by committee of the House of Representatives, and hence the 
President desired.the assistance of Congress to obtain for the 
Treasury Department a full knowledge of all the facts which were 
necessary to guide his judgment. But it was not his purpose, as 
the language of his message will show, to ask the representatives 
of the people to assume a responsibility which did not belong to 
them to relieve the executive branch of the Government from the 
duty which the law had imposed upon it. It is due to the Presi- 
dent that his object in that proceeding should be distinctly under- 
stood, and that he should acquit himself of all suspicion of seek- 
ing to escape from the performance of his own duties or of desiring 
to ;interpose another body between himself and the people in order 
to avoid a measure which he is called upon to meet. But although 
as an act of justice to himself he disclaims any design of 
soliciting the opinion of the House of Representatives in relation 
to his own duties in order to shelter himself from responsibility 
under the sanction of their counsel, yet he is at all times ready to 
listen to the suggestions of the representatives of the people, 
whether given voluntarily or upon solicitation, and to consider 
them with the profound respect to which all will admit that they 
are justly entitled. Whatever may be the consequences, however, 
to himself, he must finally form his own judgment where the con- 
stitution and the law make it his duty to decide, and must act 
accordingly; and he is bound to suppose that such a course on his 
part will never be regarded by that elevated body as a mark of 
disrespect to itself, but that they will, on the contrary, esteem it 
the strongest evidence he can give of his fixed resolution con- 
scientiously to discharge his duty to them and the country. 

‘‘A new state of things has, however, arisen since the close of 
the last session of Congress, and evidence has since been laid be- 
fore the President which he is persuaded would have led the 
House of Representatives to adifferent conclusion if it had come to 
their knowledge. The fact that the bank controls, and in some 
cases substantially owns, and by its money supports some of the 
leading presses of the country, is now more clearly established. 
Editors to whom it loaned extravagant sums in 1831 and 1832, 
on unusual time and nominal security, have since turned out to be 


CHURCH BUILT BY ANDREW JACKSON IN 1823 FOR MRS. JACKSON. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 425 


msolvent, and to others apparently in no better condition accom- 
odations still more extravagant, on terms more unusual, and some 
without any security, have also been. heedlessly granted. 


“The allegation which has so often circulated through these 
channels that the Treasury was bankrupt and the bank was 
sustaining it, when for many years there has not been less, on an 
average, than six millions of public money in that institution, 
might be passed over as a harmless misrepresentation; but when 
it is attempted by substantial acts to impair the credit of the 
Government and tarnish the honor of the country, such charges 
require more serious attention. With six million of public money 
in its vaults, after having had the use of from five to twelve million 
for nine years without interest, it became the purchaser of a bill 
drawn by our Government on that of France for about $900,000 
being the first installment of the French indemnity. The pur- 
chase money was left in the use of the bank, being simply added to 
the Treasury deposit. The bank sold the bill in England, and the 
holder sent it to France for collection, and arrangements not 
having been made by the French Government for its payment, it 
was taken up by the agents of the bank in Paris with the funds 
of the bank in their hands. Under these circumstances it has 
through its organs openly assailed the credit of the Government 
and has actually made and persists in a demand of 15 per cent, or 
$158,842.77, as damages when no damage, or none beyond some 
trifling expense, has in fact been sustained, and when the bank 
had in its own possession on deposit several millions of the public 
money which it was then using for its own profit. Isa fiscal agent 
of the Government which thus seeks to enrich itself at the expense 
of the public worthy of further trust? 


“There are other important facts not in the contemplation of 
the House of Representatives or not known to the members at the 
time they voted for the resolution. 


“Although the charter and the rules of the bank both declare 
that ‘ not less than seven directors ’ shall be necessary to the trans- 
action of business, yet the most important business, even that of 
granting discounts to any extent, is intrusted to the committee 
of five members, who do not report to the board. 


“To cut off all means of communication with the Government 
in relation to its most important acts at the commencement of 
the present year, not one of the Government directors was placed 
on any one committee; and although since, by an unusual remodel- 
ing of those bodies, some of those directors have been placed on 
some of the committees, they are yet entirely excluded from the 
committee of exchange, through which the greatest and most ob- 
jectionable loans have been made. 


When the Government directed or made an effort to bring 
back the business of the bank to the board in obedience to the 
charter and the existing regulations, the board not only overruled 


426 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


their attempt, but altered the rule so as to make it conform to the 
practice, in direct violation of one of the most important provisions 
of the the charter which gave them existence. 

“It has long been known that the president of the bank, by 
his single will, originates and executes many of the most important 
measures connected with the management and credit of the bank, 
and that the committee as well as the board of directors are left 
in entire ignorance of many acts done and correspondence carried 
on in their names and apparently under their authority. The fact 
has been recently disclosed that an unlimited discretion has been 
and is now vested in the president of the bank to expend its funds 
in payment for preparing and circulating articles and purchasing 
pamphlets and newspapers, calculated by their contents to operaie 
on elections and secure a renewal of its charter. It appears from 
the official report of the public directors that on the 30th, Novem- 
ber, 1830, the president submitted to the board an article published 
in the American Quarterly Review containing favorable notices 
of the bank, and suggested the expediency of giving it a wider 
circulation at the expense of the bank; whereupon the board passed 
the following resolution, viz.: 


“RESOLVED, That the president be authorized to take such 
measures in regard to the circulation of the contents of the said 
article, either in whole or in part, as he may deem most for the 
interest of the bank. 

“By an entry in the minutes of the bank dated March 11, 1831, 
it appears that the president had not only caused a large edition 
of that article to be issued, but had also, before the resolution of 
30th November was adopted, procured to be printed and widely 
circulated numerous copies of the reports of General Smith and 
Mr McDuffie in favor of the bank; and on that day he suggested 
the expediency of extending his power to the printing of other 
articles which might observe the purpose of the institution, where- 
upon the following resolution was adopted, viz.: 

“RESOLVED, That the president is hereby authorized to 
cause to be prepared and circulated such documents and papers 
as may communicate to the people information in regard to the 
nature and operations of the bank. 

‘“The expenditures purporting to have been made under author- 
ity of these resolutions the year 1831 and 1832 were about $80,000. 
For a portion of these expenditures vouchers were rendered, from 
which it appears that they were incurred in the purchase of some 
hundred thousand copies of newspapers, reports and speeches made 
in Congress, reviews of the veto message and reviews of speeches 
against the bank, etc. For another large portion no voucher what- 
ever were rendered, but the various sums were paid on orders of 
the president of the bank, making reference to the resolution of the 
11th of March, 1831. 

“On ascertaining these facts and perceiving that expendi- 
tures of a similar character were still continued, the Government 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 427 


directors a few weeks ago offered a resolution in the board calling 
for a specific account of these expenditures, showing the objects 
to which they had been applied and the persons to whom the money 
had been paid. This reasonable proposition was voted down. 

“They also offered a resolution rescinding the resolutions of 
November, 1830, and March, 1831. This was also rejected. 

“Not content with thus refusing to recall the obnoxious power 
or even to require such an account of the expenditure as would show 
whether the money of the bank had in fact been applied to the 
objects contemplated by these resolutions, as obnoxious as they 
were, the board renewed the power already conferred, and even 
enjoined renewed attention to its exercise by adopting the following 
in lieu oi the proposition submitted by the Government directors, 
viz. : 

““RESOLVED, That the board have confidence in the wisdom 
and integrity of the president and in the propriety of the resolutions 
of 30th November, 1830, and 11th March, 1831, and entertain a 
full conviction of the necessity of a renewed attention to the ob- 
ject of those resolutions, and that the president be authorized and 
requested to continue his exertions for the promotion of said object. 

“Taken in connection with the nature of the expenditures here- 
tofore made, as recently disclosed, which the board not only tolerat- 
ed, but approved, this resolution puts the funds of the bank at the 
disposition of the president for the purpose of employing the whole 
press of the country in the service of the bank, to hire writers and 
newspapers, and to pay out such sums as he pleases to what person 
and for what services he pleases without the responsibility of 
rendering any specific account. The bank is thus converted into 
a vast electioneering engine, with means to embroil the country 
in deadly feuds, and, under cover of expenditures in themselves 
improper, extend its corruption through all the ramifications of 
society. 

““Some of the Items for which accounts have been rendered show 
the construction which has been given to the resolution and the 
way in which the power it confers has been exerted. The money 
has not been expended merely in the publication and distribution 
of speeches, reports of committees, or articles written for the pur- 
pose of showing the constitutionality or usefulness of the bank, but 
publications have been prepared and extensively circulated con- 
taining the grossest invectives against the officers of the Govern- 
ment, and the money svhich belongs to the stockholders and to 
the public has been freely applied in efforts to degrade in public 
estimation those who were supposed to be instrumental in rein- 
stating the wishes of this grasping and dangerous institution. As 
the president of the bank has not been required to settle his ac- 
counts, no one but himself knows how much more than the sum 
already mentioned may have been squandered, and for which a 
credit may hereafter be claimed in his account under this most 
extraordinary resolution. With these facts before us can we be 


28 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


surprised at the torrent of abuse incessantly poured out against all 
who are supposed to stand in the way of the cupidity or ambi- 
tion of the Bank of the United States? Can we be surprised at 
sudden and unexpected changes of opinion in favor of an institution 
which has millions to lavish and avows its determination not to 
spare its means when they are necessary to accomplish its purpose ? 
The refusal to render an account of the manner in which a part of 
the money expended had been applied gives just cause for the 
supicion that it has been used for purposes which it is not deemed 
prudent to expose to the eyes of an intelligent and virtuous people. 
Those who act justly do not shun the light, nor do they refuse’ex- 
planation when the propriety of their conduct is brought into 
question. 

‘With these facts before him in official report from the Govern- 
ment directors, the President would feel that he was not only 
responsible for all the abuses and corruption the bank has com- 
mitted or may commit, but almost an accomplice in a conspiracy 
against the Government which he has sworn honestly to administer, 
if he did not take every step within his constitutional and legal 
power likely to be efficient in putting an end to these enormities. 
If it be possible within the scope of human affairs to find a reason 
for removing the Government deposits and leaving the bank to its 
own resources for the means of effecting its criminal designs, we 
have it here. Was it expected when the moneys of the United 
States were directed to be placed in that bank that they would 
be put under the control of one man empowered to spend millions 
without rendering a voucher or specifying the object? Can they 
be considered safe with the evidence before us that tens of thous- 
ands have been spent for highly improper, if not corrupt, purposes, 
and that the same motive may lead to the expenditure of hundreds 
of thousands, and even millions, more? And can we justify our- 
selves to the people by longer leaving to it the money and power of 
the Government to be employed for such purposes ? 

“It has been.alleged by some as an objection to the removal 
of the deposits that the bank has the power, and in that event 
will have the disposition, to destroy the State Banks employed by 
the Government, and bring distress upon the country. It has 
been the fortune of the President to encounter dangers which were 
represented as equally alarming, and he has seen them vanish 
before resolution and energy. Pictures equally appalling were 
placed before him when this bank came to demand a new charter. 
But what was the result? Has the country been ruined, or even 
distressed? Was it ever more prosperous than since that act? 

The President verily believes the bank has not the power to 
produce the calamities its friends threaten. The funds of the Goy- 
ernment will not be annihilated by being transferred. They will 
immediately be issued for the benefit of trade, and if the bank of 
the United States curtails its loans the State Banks, strengthened 
by the public deposits will extend theirs. What comes in through 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 429 


one bank will go out through others, and the equilibrium will be 
preserved. Should the bank, for the mere purpose of producing 
distress, press its debtors more heavily than some of them can bear, 
the consequences will recoil upon itself, and in the attempts to em- 
barrass the country it will only bring loss and ruin upon the holders 
of its own stock. But if the President believed the bank possessed 
all the power which has been atributed to it, his determination 
would only be rendered the more inflexible. If indeed, this corpo- 
ration now holds in its hands the happiness and prosperity of the 
American people, it is high time to take the alarm. Ifthe despotism 
be already upon us and our only safety is in the mercy of the despot, 
recent developments in relation to his designs and the means he 
employs show how necessary it is to shake it off. The struggle can 
never come with less distress to the people or under more favorable 
auspices than at the present moment. 

*‘All doubt as to the willingness of the State Bank to undertake 
the service of the Government to the same extent and on the same 
terms as it is now performed by the Bank of the United States 
is put to rest by the report of the agent recently employed to col- 
lect information, and from that willingness their own safety in 
the operation may be confidently inferred. Knowing their own 
resources better than they can be known by others, it is not to be 
supposed that they would be willing to place themselves in a sit- 
uation which they can not occupy without danger of annihilation 
or embarrassment. The only consideration applies to the safety 
of the public funds if deposited in these institutions, and when it 
is seen that the directors of many of them are not only willing to 
pledge the character and capital of the corporations in giving 
success to this measure, but also their own property and reputation, 
we can not doubt that they at least believe the public deposits 
would be safe in their management. The President thinks that 
these facts and circumstances afford as strong a guaranty as can 
be had in human affairs for the safety of the public fund and the 
practicability of a new system of collection and disbursement 
through the agency of the State Banks. 

“From all these considerations the President thinks that the 
state banks ought immediately to be employed in the collection 
and disbursement of the public revenue, and the funds now in the 
Bank of the United States drawn out with all convenience dis- 
patch. The safety of the public moneys if deposits in the state 
bank must be secured beyond all reasonable doubts; but the extent 
and nature of the security in addition to their capital, if any be 
deemed necessary. is a subject of detail to which the Treasury 
Departments will undoubtedly give its anxious attention. The 
bank to be employed must remit the moneys of the Government 
without charge, as the Bank of the United States now does; must 
render all the services which that bank now performs; must keep 
the Government advised of their situation by periodical returns; 
in fine, in any arrangement with the state banks the Government 


430 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


must not in any respect be placed on a worse footing than it now is. 
The President is happy to perceive by the report of the agent that 
the banks which he has consulted have, in general, consented to 
perform the service on these terms, and that those in New York 
have further agreed to make payments in London without other 
charge than the mere cost of the bills of exchange. 

It should also be enjoined upon any banks which may be em- 
ployed that it will be expected of them to facilitate domestic 
exchanges for the benefit of internal commerce, to grant all reason- 
able facilities to the payers of the revenue; to exercise the utmost 
liability toward the other state banks, and do nothing useless to 
embarrass the Bank of the United States. 

“As one of the most serious objections to the Bank of the 
United States is the power which it concentrates, care must be 
taken in finding other agents for the service of the Treasury not to 
raise up another power equally formidable. Although it would 
probably be impossible to produce such a result by any organiza- 
tion of the State Banks which could be devised, yet it is desireable 
to avoid even the appearance. ‘To this end it would be expedient 
to assume no more power over them and interfere no more in 
their affairs than might be absolutely necessary to the security 
of the public deposit and the faithful performance of their duties 
as agent of the Treasury. Any interference by them in the political 
contests of the country with a view to influence elections ought, in 
the opinion of the President, to be followed by an immediate dis- 
charge from the public service. 

“Tt is the desire of the President that the control of the banks 
and the currency shall, as far as possible, be entirely separated 
from the political power of the country as well as wrested from an 
institution which has already attempted to subject the Government 
to its will. In his opinion the action of the General Government 
on this subject ought not to extend beyond the grant in the Con- 
stitution, which only authorizes Congress ‘ to coin money and reg- 
ulate the value thereof; all else beyond to the states and the 
people, and must be regulated by public opinion and the interests 
of trade. 

“Tn conclusion the President must be permitted to remark that 
he looks upon the pending question as of higher consideration than 
the mere transfer of a sum of money from one bank to another. 
Its decision may effect the character of our Government for ages 
to come. Should the bank be suffered longer to use the public 
moneys in the accomplishment of its purpose, with the proofs of 
its faithlesness and corruption before our eyes, the patriotic among 
our citizens will despair the success in struggling against its power, 
and we shall be responsible for entailing it upon our country for- 
ever. Viewing it as a question of transcendent importance, both 
in the principles and consequences it involves, the President could 
not, in justice to the responsibility which he owes to the country, 
refrain from passing upon the Secretary of the Treasury his view 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 431 


of the consideration which impel to immediate action. Upon him 
has been devolved by the Constitution and the suffrages of the 
American people the duty of superintending the operation of the 
Executive Departments of the Government and seeing that the 
laws are faithfully executed. In the performance of this high 
trust it is his undoubted right to express to those whom the laws 
and his own choice have made his associates in the administration 
of the Government his opinion of their duties under circumstances 
as they arise. It is the right which he now exercises. Far be it 
from him to expect or require that any member of the Cabinet 
should at his request, order or dictation, do any act which he be- 
lieves unlawful or in his conscience condemns. From them and 
from his fellow citizens in general he desires only that aid and 
support which their reason approves and their conscience sanctions. 

“In the remarks he has made on this all-important question he 
trusts the Secretary of the Treasury will see only the frank and 
respectful declarations of the opinion which the President has 
formed on a measure of great national interest deeply affecting the 
character and usefulness of his Administration, and not a spirit 
of dictation, which the President would be as careful to avoid as 
ready toresist. Happy will he be if the facts now disclosed produce 
uniformity of opinion and unity of action among the members of 
the administration. 

“The President again repeats that he begs his Cabinet to con- 
sider the proposed measure as his own, in the support of which he 
shall require no one of them to make a sacrifice of opinion or 
principle. Its responsibility has been assured after the most 
matured deliberation and reflection as necessary to preserve the 
morals of the people, the freedom of the press, and the purity of 
the elective franchise, without which all will unite in saying that 
the blood and treasure expended by our forefathers in the establish- 
ment of our happy system of government will have been vain and 
fruitless. Under these convictions he feels that a measure so im- 
portant to the American people can not be commenced too soon, 
and he therefore names the Ist day of October next as a period 
proper for the change of the deposits, or sooner provided the 
necessary arrangements with the state banks can be made. 


432 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


CHAPTER 17. 


Jackson's ‘Protest,’ April 15, 1843, on the Senate's 
Resolution of Censure for moving the Deposite. 


Te Te Tee eee loko os ee ss ook eee eee ee ee ee a ee eee ee 


On March 28, 1834, the Senate passed Henry Clay’s Reso- 
lution of Censure on Jackson by a vote of 26 to 20 for removing 
the Deposits from the Bank of the United States, and on April 
15, 1834, Jackson sent a Protest against this Resolution to the 
Senate with the request that it be entered on the Journal of that 
body. 


The Protest was considered for a month and finally by a vote 
of 27 to 16, the Senate declined to enter it on its Journal upon the 
ground that the Protest was a breach of the privileges of the 
Senate, and that the President had no right to send a Protest to 
the Senate upon any of its proceedings. 


The following is the full text of the Protest: 


“TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES: It appears 
by the published Journal of the Senate that on the 26th of Decem- 
ber last a resolution was offered by a member of the Senate, which 
after a protracted debate was on the 28th day of March last 
modified by the mover and passed by the votes of twenty-six 
Senators out of forty-six who were present and voted, in the fol- 
lowing words, Viz.: 

“RESOLVED, That the President, in the late Executive pro- 
ceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon him- 
self authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and 
laws, but in derogation of both. 

‘Having had the honor, through the voluntary suffrages of the 
American people, to fill the office of the President of the United 
States during the period which may be presumed to have been 
referred to in this resolution, it is sufficiently evident that the 
censure it inflicts was intended for myself. Without notice, un- 
heard and untried, I thus find myself charged on the records of 
the Senate, and in a form hitherto unknown in our history, with 
the high crime of violating the laws and Constitution of my coun- 
bag 

“Tt can seldom be necessary for any department of the Govern- 
ment, when assailed in conversation or debate or by the stric- 
tures of the press or of popular assemblies, to step out of its ordi- 
nary path for the purpose of vindicating its conduct or of pointing 


LES Sa errogr gee ehge 
Cow ae Ar oe Vier Desise Fox fot: 
Ss fru Cue dren ret ad, Or ol cv atts 
Bas wy Jrrw oti freencly4eA a, pe I 


gan Lol g evo LG 1 Orvree A 
ee A 575~ ie chee Le Agon 


James Parton in his life of Jackson says this is the youngest known picture of Jackson. 


= * 
ond 
i 
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t 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HIsToRY 433 


out any irregularity or injustice in the manner of the attack; but 
when the Chief Executive Magistrate is, by one of the most im- 
portant branches of the Government in its official capacity, in a 
public manner, and by its recorded sentence, but without preced- 
ent, competent authority, or just cause, declared guilty of a breach 
of the laws and Constitution, it is due to his station, to public 
opinion, and to a proper self-respect that the officer thus denounced 
should properly expose the wrong which has been done. 


“In the present case, moreover, there is even a stronger neces- 
sity for such a vindication. By an express provision of the Con- 
stitution, before the President of the United States can enter on 
the execution of his office he is required to take an oath or af- 
firmation in the following words: 

“T do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States and will to the best of 
my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States. 

“The duty of defending so far as in him lies the integrity of the 
Consitution would indeed have resulted from the very nature of 
his office, but by thus expressing it in the official oath or affirm- 
ation, which in this respect differs from that of any other function- 
ary, the founders of our Republic have attested their sense of its 
importance and have given to it a peculiar solemnity and force. 
Bound to the performance of this duty by the oath I have taken, 
by the strongest obligations of gratitude to the American people, 
and by the ties which unite my every earthly interest with the wel- 
fare and glory of my country, and perfectly convinced that the 
discussion. and passage of the above-mentioned resolution were 
not only unauthorized by the Constitution, but in many respects 
repugnant to its provisions and subversive of the rights secured 
by it to other co-ordinate departments, I deem it an imperative 
duty to maintain the supremacy of that sacred instrument and the 
immunities of the Department intrusted to my cares by all means 
consistent with my own lawful powers, with the nghts of others, 
and with the genius of our civil imstitutions. To this end I have 
caused this my solemn protest against the aforesaid proceedings 
to be placed on the files of the executive department and to be 
transmitted to the Senate. 

“Tt is alike due to the subject, the Senate, and the people 
that the views which I have taken of the proceedings referred to, 
and which compel me to regard them in the light that has been 
mentioned, should be exhibited at length, and with the freedom and 
firmness which are required by an occasion so unprecdented and 
peculiar. 

“Under the Constitution of the United States the powers and 
functions of the various departments of the Federal Government 
and their responsibilities for violations or neglect of duty are clear- 
ly defined or result by necessary inference. The legislative power 
is, subject to the qualified negative of the President, vested in the 


28 


434 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HiIsToRY 


Congress of the United States, composed of the Senate and House 
of Representatives; the executive power is vested exclusively in 
the President, except that in the conclusion of treaties and certain 
appointments to office he is to act with the advice and consent of 
the Senate; the judicial power is vested exclusively in the Supreme 
and other courts of the United States, except in cases of 
impeachment, for which purpose the accusatory power is vested 
in the House of Representatives and that of hearing and de-- 
termining in the Senate. But although for the special purposes 
which have been mentioned there is an occasional intermixture 
of the powers of the different departments, yet with these excep- 
ions each of the three great departments is independent of the 
others in its sphere of action, and when it deviates from that sphere 
is not responsible to the others further than it is expressly made so 
in the Constitution. In every other respect each of them is the co- 
equal of the two, and all are the servants of the American people, 
without power or right to control or censure each other in the 
service of their common superior, save only in the manner and to | 
the degree which that superior has prescribed. 

“The responsibilites of the President are numerous and weighty. 
He is liable to. impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, 
and on due conviction to removal from office and perpetual dis- 
qualification; and notwithstanding such conviction, he may also 
be indicted and punished according to law. He is also liable to 
the private action of any party who may have been injured by his 
illegal mandates or instructions in the same manner and to the 
same extent as the humblest functionary. In addition to the 
responsibilities which may thus be enforced by impeachment, 
criminal prosecution, or suit at law, he is also accountable at the 
bar of public opinion for every act of his Administration. Subject 
only to the restraints of truth and justice, the free people of the 
United States have the undoubted right, as individuals or collect- 
ively, orally or in writing, at such times and in language and form 
as they may think proper, to discuss his official conduct and to 
express and promulgate their opinions concerning it. Indirectly 
also his conduct may come under review in either branch of the 
legislature, or in the Senate when acting in its executive capacity, 
and so far as the executive or legislative proceedings of these bodies 
may require it, it may be exercised by them. ‘These are believed 
to be proper and only modes in which the President of the United 
States is to be held accountable for his official conduct. 

“Tested by these principles, the resolution of the Senate is 
wholly unauthorized by the Constitution, and in derogation of 
its entire spirit. It assumes that a single branch of legislative 
department may for the purposes of a public censure, and without 
any view to legislation or impeachment, take up, consider, and 
decide upon the official acts of the Executive. But in no part of the 
Constitution is the President subject to any such responsibility, 
and in no part of that instrument is any such power conferred on 
either branch of the legislature. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 435 


“The justice of these conclusions will be illustrated and con- 
firmed by a brief analysis of the powers of the Senate and a com- 
parision of their recent proceedings with those powers. 

“The high functions assigned by the Constitution to the Senate 
are in their nature either legislative, executive, or judicial. It is 
only in the exercise of its judicial powers, when sitting as a court 
for the trial of impeachments, that the Senate is expressly author- 
ized and necessarily required to consider and decide upon the con- 
duct of the President or any other public officer. Cases may 
occur in the course of its legislative or executive proceedings in 
which it may be indispensable to the proper exercises of its powers 
that it should inquire into and decide upon the conduct of the 
President or other public officers, and in every such case its con- 
stitutional right to do so is cheerfully conceded. But to authorize 
the Senate to enter on such a task in its legislative or executive 
capacity the inquiry must actually grow out of and tend to some 
legislative or executive action, and the decision, when expressed, 
must take the form of some appropriate legislative or executive act. 

‘The resolution in question was introduced, discussed, and pas- 
sed not as a joint but asa separate resolution. It asserts no legisla- 
tive power, proposes no legislative action, and neither possesses the 
form nor any of the attributes of a legislative measure. It does 
not appear to have been entertained or passed with any view or 
expectation of its issuing in a law or joint resolution, or in the repeal 
of any law or joint resolution, or in any other legislative action. 

“Whilst wanting both the form and substance of a legislative 
measure, it is equally manifest that the resolution was not justified 
by any of the executive powers conferred on the Senate. These 
powers relate exclusively to the consideration of treaties and nom- 
inations to office, and they are exercised in secret session and with 
closed doors. This resolution does not apply to any treaty or 
nomination, and was passed in a public session. 

“Nor does this proceeding in any way belong to that class of 
incidental resolutions which relate to the officers of the Senate, to 
their Chamber and other appurtenances, or to subjects, order and 
other matters of the like nature, in all which either House may law- 
fully proceed without any operation with the other or with the 
President. 

“On the contrary, the whole phraseology and sense of the res- 
olution seem to be judicial. Its essence, true character, and only 
practical effect are to be found in the conduct which it charges 
upon the President and in the judgment which it pronounces on 
that conduct. The resolution, therefore, though discussed and 
adopted by the Senate in its legislative capacity, is in its office and 
in all its characteristics essentially judicial. 

“That the Senate possesses a high judicial power and that in- 
stances may occur in which the President of the United States 
will be amenable to it is undeniable; but under the provisions of the 
Constitution it would seem to be equally plain that neither the 


436 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


President nor any other officer can be rightfully subjected to the 
operation of the judicial power of the Senate except in the cases 
and under the forms prescribed by the Constitution. 

“The Constitution declares that ‘ the President, Vice-Pres- 
ident, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed 
from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, 
or other high crimes and misdemeanors; that the House of 
Representatives ‘ shall have the sole power of impeachments;’ that 
‘ when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation;’ 
that ‘when the President of the United States is tried the Chief 
Justice shall preside; that ‘no person shall be convicted without 
the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present,’ and that 
‘judgment shall not extend further than to removal from office 
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, 
or profit under the United States.’ 

“The resolution above quoted charges, in substance, that in 
certain proceedings relating to the public revenue the President 
has usurped authority and power not conferred upon him by the 
Constitution and laws, and that in doing so he violated both. Any 
such act constitutes a high crime—one of the highest, indeed, 
which justly exposes him to impeachment by the House of Rep- 
resentatives, and upon due conviction, to removal from office and 
to the complete and immutable disfranchisement prescribed by the 
Constitution. The resolution, then, wasin substance an impreach- 
ment of the President, andin its passage amounts to a declaration 
by a majority of the Senate that he is guilty of an impeachable 
offense. As such it is spread upon the journals of the Senate, 
published to the nation and to the world, made part of our enduring 
archives, and incorporated in the history of the age. The punish- 
ment of removal from office and future disqualification does not, 
it is true, follow this decision, nor would it have followed the like 
decision if the regular forms of the proceeding had been pursued, 
because the requisite number did not concur in the result. But the 
moral influence of a solemn declaration by a majority of the Senate 
that the accused is guilty of the offense charged upon him has been 
as effectually secured as if the declaration had been made upon an 
impeachment expressed in the same terms. Indeed, a greater 
practical effect has been gained, because the votes given for the 
resolution, though not sufficient to authorize a judgment of guilty 
on an impeachment, were numerous enough to carry that resolu- 
tion. 

‘“That the resolution does not expressly allege that the assumpt- 
tion of power and authority which it condemns was intentional 
and corrupt is no answer to the preceding view of its character 
and effect. The act thus condemned necessarily implies volition 
and design in the individual to whom it is imputed, and, being un- 
lawful in its character, the legal conclusion is that it was prompted 
by improper motives and committed with an unlawful intent. 
The charge is not of a mistake in the exercise of supposed powers 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 437 


but of the assumption of powers not conferred by the Constitution 
and laws, but in derogation of both, and nothing is suggested to 
excuse or palliate the turpitude of the act. In the absence of any 
such excuse or palliation there is only room for one inference, and 
that is that the intent was unlawful and corrupt. Besides, the 
resolution not only contains no mitigating suggestion, but on the 
contrary, it holds up the act complained of as justly obnoxious to 
censure and repobation, and thus as distinctly stamps it with im- 
purity of motive as if the strongest epithets had been used. 

‘““The President of the United States, therefore, has been by a 
majority of his constitutional triers accused and found guilty of an 
impeachable offense, but in no part of this proceeding have the 
directions of the Constitution been observed. 

“The impeachment, instead of being preferred and prose- 
cuted by the House of Representatives, orginated in the Senate, 
and was prosecuted without the aid or concurrence of the other 
House. The oath or affirmation prescribed by the Constitution 
was not taken by the Senators, the Chief Justice did not preside, 
no notice of the charge was given to the accused, and no opportun- 
ity afforded him to respond to the accusation, to meet his accusers 
face to face, to cross-examine the witnesses, to procure counter- 
acting testimony or to be heard in his defense. The safeguards 
and formalities which the Constitution has connected with the 
power of impeachment were doubtless supposed by the framers of 
that instrument to be essential to the protection of the public 
servant, to the attainment of justice, and to the order, impartiality, 
and dignity of the procedure. These safeguards and formalities 
were not only practically disregarded in the commencement and 
conduct of these proceedings, but in their result I find myself 
convicted by less than two-thirds of the members present of an 
impeachable offense. 

“Tn vain may it be alleged in defense of this proceeding that the 
form of the resolution is not that of an impeachment or of a judg- 
ment thereupon, that the punishment prescribed in the Consti- 
tution does not follow its adoption, or that in this case no impeach- 
ment is to be expected from the House of Representatives. It is 
because it did not assume the form of an impeachment that it is 
the more palpably repugnant to the Constitution, for it is through 
that form only that the President is judicially responsible to the 
Senate; and though neither removal from office nor future dis- 
qualification ensues, yet it is not to be presumed that the framers 
of the Constitution considered either or both of those results as 
constituting the whole of the punishment they prescribed. The 
judgment of guilty by the highest tribunal in the Union, the stigma 
it would inflict on the offender, his family, and fame, and the per- 
petual record on the Journal, handing down to future generations 
the story of his disgrace, were doubtless regarded by them as the 
bitterest portions, if not the very essence, of that punishment. 
So far, therefore, as some of its most material parts are concerned, 


438 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the passage recording and promulgation of the resolution are an 
attempt to bring them on the President in a manner unauthorized 
by the Constitution. To shield him and other officers who are 
liable to impeachment from consequences so momentous, except 
when really merited by official delinquencies, the Constitution has 
most carefully guarded the whole process of impeachment. A major- 
ity of the House of Representatives must think the officers guilty be- 
fore he can be charged. Two-thirds of the Senate must pronounce 
him guilty or he is deemed to be innocent. Forty-six Senators appear 
by the Journal to have been present when the vote on the resolution 
was taken. If after all the solemnities of an impeachment thirty 
of those Senators had voted that the President was guilty, yet 
would he have been acquitted; but by the mode of the proceeding 
adopted in the present case a lasting record of conviction has been 
entered up by the votes of twenty six Senators without an impeach- 
ment or trial, whilst the Constitution expressly declares that to the 
entry of such a judgment an accusation by the House of Represent- 
atives, a trial by the Senate, and a concurrence of two-thirds in 
the vote of guilty shall be indispensable prerequisites. 

“Whether or not an impeachment was to be expected from the 
House of Representatives was a point on which the Senate had 
no constitutional right to speculate, and in respect to which even 
had it possessed the spirit of prophecy, its anticipations would 
have furnished no just ground for this proceedure. Admitting 
that there was reason to believe that a violation of the Constitution 
and laws had been actually committed by the President, still it 
was the duty of the Senate, as his sole constitutional judges, to 
wait for an impeachment until the other House should think proper 
to prefer it. The members of the Senate could have no right to 
infer that no impeachment was intended. On the contrary, every 
legal and rational presumption on their part ought to have been 
that if there was good reason to believe him guilty of an impeach- 
able offense the House of Representatives would perform its con- 
stitutional duty by arrainging the offender before the justice of 
his country. The contrary presumption would involve an im- 
plication derogatory to the integrity and honor of the represent- 
atives of the people. But suppose the suspicion this implied were 
actually entertained and for good cause, how can it justify the 
assumption by the Senate of powers not conferred by the Con- 
stitution? 

“Tt is only necessary to look at the condition in which the Sen- 
ate and the President have been placed by this proceeding to 
perceive its utter incompatibility with the provisions and the 
spirit of the Constitution and with the plainest dictates of human- 
ity and justice. 

“If the House of Representatives shall be of opinion that there 
is just ground for the censure pronounced upon the President, 
then will it be the solumn duty of that House to prefer the proper 
accusation and to cause him to be brought to trial by the con- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 439 


stitutional tribunal. But in what condition would he find that 
tribunal? A majority of its members have already considered the 
case, and have not only formed but expressed a deliberate judg- 
ment upon its merits. It is the policy of our benign systems of 
jurisprudence to secure in all criminal proceedings, and even in 
the most trivial litigations, a fair, unprejudiced, and impartial 
trial, and surely it can not be less important that such a trial should 
be secured to the highest officer of the Government. 

“The Constitution makes the House of Representatives the 
exclusive judges, in the first instance, of the question whether the 
President has committed an impeachable offense. A majority 
of the Senate, whose interference with this preliminary ques- 
tion has for the best of all reasons been studiously excluded, antic- 
ipate the action of the House of Representatives, assume not only 
the function which belongs exclusively to that body, but convert 
themselves into accusers, witnesses, counsels, and judges, and pre- 
judge the whole case, thus presenting the appealing spectacle in a 
free state of judges going through a labored preparation for an 
impartial hearing and decision by a previous exparte investigation 
and sentence against the supposed offender. 

“There is no more settled axiom in that Government whence we 
derived the model of this part of our Constitution than that ‘The 
lords can not impeach any to themselves, nor join in the accusation, 
because they are judges.’ Independently of the general reasons 
on which this rule is founded, its propriety and importance are 
greatly increased by the nature of the impeaching power. The 
power of arraigning the high officers of the Government before a 
tribunal whose sentence may expel them from their seats and brand 
them as infamous is eminently a popular remedy—a remedy de- 
signed to be employed for the protection of private right and 
public liberty against the abuses of injustice and the encroach- 
ments of arbitrary power. But the framers of the Constitution 
were also undoubtedly aware that this formidable instrument 
had been and might be abused, and that from its very nature an 
impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, whatever might 
be its result, would in most cases be accompanied by so much of 
dishonor and reproach, solicitude and suffering, as to make the 
power of preferring it one of the highest solemnity and impor- 
tance. It was due to both these considerations that the impeach- 
ing power should be lodged in the hands of those who from the 
mode of their election and the tenure of their offices would most 
accurately express the popular will and at the same time be most 
directly and speedily amenable to the people. The theory of these 
wise and benignant intentions is in the present case effectually 
defeated by the proceedings of the Senate. The mem- 
bers of that body represent not the people, but the States; and 
though they are undoubtedly responsible to the States, yet from 
their extended term of service the effect of that responsibility 
during the whole period of that term must very much depend upon 


440 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


their own impressions of its obligatory force. When a body thus 
constituted expressed beforehand its opinion in a particular case, 
and thus indirectly invited a prosecution, it not only assumes a 
power intended for wise reasons to be confined to others, but it 
shields the latter from that exclusive and personal responsibility 
under which it was intended to be exercised, and reverses the whole 
scheme of this part of the Constitution. 

‘“‘Such would be some of the objections to this procedure, even 
if it were admitted that there is just ground for imputing to the 
President the offenses charged in the resolution. But if, on the 
other hand, the House of Representatives shall be of opinion that 
there is no reason for charging them upon him, and shall therefore 
deem it improper to prefer an impeachment, than will the violation 
of privilege as it respects that House, of justice as it regards the 
President, and of the Constitution as it relates to both be only the 
more conspicuous and impressive. 

‘The Constitutional mode of procedure on an impeachment has 
not only been wholly disregarded, but:some of the first principles 
of natural right and enlightened jurisprudence have been violated 
in the very form of the resolution. It carefully abstains from 
averring in which of ‘ the late proceedings in relation to the public 
revenue the President has assumed upon himself authority and 
power not conferred by the Constitution and laws.’ It carefully 
abstains from specifying what laws or what parts of the Constitu- 
tion have been violated. Why was not the certainty of the of- 
fense—‘ the nature and cause of the accusation ’—set out in the 
manner required in the Constitution before even the humblest 
individual, for the smallest crime, can be exposed to condemnation ? 
Such a specification was due to the accused that he might direct 
his defense to the real points of attack, to the people that they 
might clearly understand in what particulars their institutions 
had been violated, and to the truth and certainty of our public 
annals. As the record now stands, whilst the resolution plainly 
charges upon the President at least one act of usurpation in “the 
late Executive proceedings in relation to the public revenue,’ and 
is so framed that those Senators who believe that one such act, and 
only one, had been committed could assent to it, its language is 
yet broad enough to include several such acts, and so it may have 
been regarded by some of those who voted for it. But though the 
accusation is thus comprehensive in the censures it implies, there 
is no such certainty of time, place, or circumstances as to exhibit 
the particular conclusion of the fact or law which induced any one 
Senator to vote for it; and it may well have happened that whilst 
one Senator believed that some particular act embraced in the 
resolution was an arbitrary and unconstitutional assumption of 
power, others of the majority may have deemed that very act both 
constitutional and expedient, or if not expedient, yet still within 
the pale of the Constitution; and thus a majority of the Senators 
may have keen enabled to concurina vague and undefined accusa- 


MRS. ANDREW JACKSON 
In costume worn at Ball at New Orleans in honor of the Battle of New Orleans. From painting by Earl 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 441 


tion that the President, in the course of ‘ the late Executive pro- 
ceedings in relation to the public revenue,’ had violated the Con- 
stitution and laws, whilst if a separate vote had been taken in 
respect to each particular act included within the General terms 
the accusers of the President might on any such vote have been 
found in the minority. 

“Still further to exemplify this feature of the proceeding, it is 
important to be remarked that their resolution as originally offered 
to the Senate specified with adequate precision certain acts of 
the President which it denounced as a violation of the Constitution 
and laws, and that it was not until the very close of the debate, and 
when perhaps it was apprehended that a majority might not 
sustain the specific accusation contained in it, that the resolution 
was so modified as to assume its present form. A more striking 
illustration of the soundess and necessity of the rules which forbid 
vague and indefinite generalities and require a reasonable certainty 
in all judicial allegations, and a more glaring instance of the viola- 
tion of those rules, has seldom been exhibited. 

“Tn this view of the resolution it must certainly be regarded 
not as a vindication of any particular provision of the law or the 
constitution, but simply as an official rebuke or condemnatory 
sentence, too general and indefinite to be easily repelled, but yet 
sufficiently precise to bring into discredit the conduct and motives 
of the Executive. But whatever it may have been intended to 
accomplish, it is obvious that the vague, general, and abstract 
form of the resolution is in perfect keeping with those other de- 
partures from first principles and settled improvements in juris- 
prudence so properly the boast of free countries in modern times. 
And it is not too much to say of the whole of those proceedings 
that if they shall be approved and sustained by an intelligent peo- 
ple, then will that great contest with arbitrary power which had 
established in statutes, in bills or rights, in sacred charters, and in 
constitutions of government the right of every citizen to a notice 
before trial, to a hearing before conviction, and to an impartial 
tribunal for deciding on the change have been waged in vain. 

“Tf the resolution had been left in its original form, it is not to 
be presumed that it could ever have received the assent of a major- 
ity of the Senate, for the acts therein specified as violations of the 
Constitution and laws were clearly within the limits of the Ex- 
ecutive authority. They are the ‘ dismissing the late Secretary 
of the Treasury because he would not, contrary to his sense of his 
own duty, remove the money of the United States in deposit with 
the Bank of the United States and its branches and in conformity 
with the President’s opinion and appointing his successor to effect 
such removal, which has been done.’ But as no other speci- 
fication has been substituted, and as these were the ‘ Executive 
proceedings in relation to the public revenue ’ principally referred 
to in the course of the discusssion, they will doubtless be general 
regarded as the acts intended to be denounced by the Constitu- 


442 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTory 


tion or laws, but in derogation of both.’ It is therefore due to the 
occasion that the condensed summary of the views of the Executive 
in respect to them should be here exhibited. 

“By the Constitution ‘ the executive power is vested In a Presi- 
dent of the United States,’ Among the duties imposed upon him, 
and which he is sworn to perform, is that of ‘ taking care that the 
laws be faithfully executed.’ Being thus made responsible for 
the entire action of the executive department, it was but reasonable 
that the power of appointing, overseeing, and controlling those 
who execute the laws—a power in its nature executive—should 
remain in his hands. It is therefore not only his right, but the 
Constitution makes it his duty, to ‘ nominate and, by and with the 
advance and consent of the Senate, appoint’ all ‘ officers of the 
United States whose appointments are not in the Constitution 
otherwise provide for,’ with a proviso that the appointment of in- 
ferior officers may be vested in the President alone, in the courts 
of justice, or in the heads of Departments. 

“The executive power vested in the Senate is neither that of 
‘nominating’ nor ‘appointing.’ It is merely a check upon the 
Executive power of appointment. If individuals are proposed for 
appointment by the President by them deemed incompetent or 
unworthy, they may withhold their consent and the appointment 
can not be made. ‘They check the action of the executive, but can 
not in relation to those very subjects act themselves nor direct him. 
Selections are still made by the President, and the negative given 
to the Senate, without diminishing his responsibility, furnishes an 
additional guaranty to the country that the subordinate executive 
as well as the judicial office shall be filled with worthy and com- 
petent men. 

‘The whole executive power being vested in the President, who 
is responsible for its exercise, it is a necessary consequence that he 
should have a right to employ agents of his own choice to aid him 
in the performance of his duties, and to discharge them when he is 
no longer willing to be responsible for their acts. In strict ac- 
cordance with this principle the power of removal, which, like that 
of appointment, is an original executive power, is left unchecked by 
the Constitution in relation to all executive officers, for whose con- 
duct the President is responsible, while it has been taken from him 
in relation to judicial officers, for which acts he is not responsible. 
In the Government from which many of the fundamental principles 
of our system are derived the head of the executive department 
originally had power to appoint and remove at will all officers, 
executive and judicial. It was to take the judges out of this gen- 
eral power of removal, and thus make them independent of the 
Executive, that the tenture of their officers was charged to good 
behavior. Nor is it conceivable why they are placed in our con- 
stitution upon a tenure different from that of all other officers 
appointed by the Executive unless it be for the same purpose. 

“But if there were any just ground for doubt on the face of the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 443 


Constitution whether all executive officers were removable at the 
will of the President, it is obviated by the cotemporaneous con- 
struction of the instrument and the uniform practice under it. 

“The power of removal was a topic of solemn debate in the 
Congress of 1789 while organizing the administrative departments 
of the Government, and it was finally decided that the President 
derived from the Constitution the power of removal so far as it 
regards that department for whose acts he is responsible. Al- 
though the debate covered the whole ground, embracing the Treas- 
ury as well as all the other Executive Departments, it arose on a 
motion to strike out of the bill to establish a Department of 
Foreign Affairs, since called the department of State, a clause 
declaring the Secretary ‘ to be removable from office by the Presi- 
dent of the United States.’ After that motion had been decided 
in the negative it was perceived that these words did not convey the 
sense of the House of Representatives in relation to the true source 
of the power of removal. With the avowed object of preventing 
any further inference that this power was exercised by the President 
in virtue of a grant from Congress, when in fact that body consider- 
ed it as derived from the Constitution, the words which had been 
the subject of debate were struck out, and in lieu thereof a clause 
was inserted in a provision concerning the Chief Clerk of the De- 
partment, which declared that ‘ whenever the said principal officer 
shall be removed from office by the President of the United States, 
or in any other case of vacancy,’ the chief clerk should during such 
vacancy have charge of the papers of the office. This change hav- 
ing been made for the express purpose of declaring the sense of 
Congress that the President derived the power of removal from the 
Constitution, the act as it passed has always been considered as a 
full expression of the sense of the legislature on this important part 
of the American Constitution. 

“Here then, we have the concurrent authority of President 
Washington, of the Senate, and the House of Representatives, 
numbers of whom had taken an active part in the convention which 
framed the Constitution and in the state conventions which adopt- 
_ed it, that the President derived an unqualified power of removal 
from that instrument itself, which is ‘ beyond the reach of legisla- 
tive authority.’ Upon the principle the Government has now been 
steadily administered for about forty-five years, during which 
there have been numerous removals made by the President or by 
his direction, embracing every grade of executive officers from the 
heads of Departments of the messengers of bureaus. 

“The Treasury Department in the discussions of 1789 was con- 
sidered on the same footing as the other executive Departments and 
in the act establishing it were incorporated the precise words in- 
dicative of the sense of Congress that the President derives his 
power to remove the Secretary from the Constitution, which ap- 
pears in the act establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs. 
An Assistant Secretary of the Treasury was created, and it was 


444 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


provided that he should take charge of the books and papers of the 
Department ‘ Whenever the Secretary shall be removed from 
office by the President of the United States.’ The Secretary of 
the Treasury belng appointed by the President, and being consid- 
ered as constitutionally removable by him, it appears never to have 
occurred to anyone in the Congress of 1789, or since until very 
recently, that he was other than the executive officer, the mere in- 
strument of the Chief Magistrate in the execution of the laws, 
subject, like all other heads of Departments, to his supervision 
and control. No such idea as an officer of the Congress can be 
found in the Constitution or appears to have suggested itself to 
those who organized the Government. There are officers of each 
house the appointment of which is authorized by the Constitution, 
but all officers referred to in that instrument as coming within the 
appointing power of the President, whether established thereby or - 
created by law, or ‘ officers of the United States.’ No joint pow- 
er of appointment is given to the two Houses of Congress, nor is 
there any accountability to them as one body; but as soon as any 
office is created by law, of whatever name or character, the ap- 
pointment of the person or persons to fill it devolves by the Con- 
stitution upon the President, with the advise and consent of the 
Senate, unless it be in inferior office, and the appointment be 
vested by the law itself ‘in the President alone, in the courts of law, 
or in the heads of Departments.’ 

“But at the time of the organization of the Treasury Depart- 
ment an incident occurred which distinctly evinces the unanimous 
concurrence of the First Congress in the principle that the Treasury 
Department is wholly executive in its character and responsibilities. 
A motion was made to strike out the provisions of the bill making it 
the duty of the Secretary ‘ to digest and report plans for the im- 
provement and management of the revenue and for the support of 
public credit,’ on the ground that it would give the executive de- 
partment of the Government too much influence and power in 
Congress. The motion was not opposed on the ground that the 
Secretary was the officer of Congress and responsible to that body, 
which would have been conclusive if admitted, but on other ground, 
which conceded his executive character throughout. The whole 
discussion evinces an unanimous concurrence in the principle that 
the Secretary of the Treasury is wholly an executive officer, and 
the struggle of the minority was to restrict his power as such. 
From that time down to the present the Secretary of the Treasury, 
the Treasurer, Register, Comptroller, Auditors, and clerks who 
fill the offices of that Department have in the practice of the Gov- 
ernment been considered and treated as on the same footing with 
corresponding grades of officers in all the other Executive De- 
partments. 

“The custody of the public property, under such regulations 
as may be prescribed by legislative authority, has always been con- 
sidered an appropriate function of the executive department in 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 445 


this and all other Governments. In accordance with this principle, 
every species of property belonging to the United States (except- 
ing that which is in the use of the several co-ordinate departments 
of the Government as means to aid them in performing their ap- 
propriate functions) is in charge of officers appointed by the Presi- 
dent, whether it be lands, or buildings, or merchandise, or pro- 
visions, or clothing, or arms and munitions of war. The superin- 
tendents and keepers of the whole are appointed by the President, 
responsible to him, and removable at his will. 

“Public money is but a species of public property. It can not 
be raised by taxation or customs, nor brought into the Treasury in 
any other way except by law; but whenever or howsoever obtained, 
its custody always has been and always must be, unless the Con- 
stitution be changed, intrusted to the executive department. No 
office can be created by Congress for the purpose of taking charge 
of it whose appointment would not by the Consitution at once de- 
volve on the President and who would not be responsible to him 
for the faithful performance of his duties. The legislative power 
may undoubtedly bind him and the President by any laws they may 
think proper to enact; they may prescribe in what place particular 
portions of the public property shall be kept and for what reason 
it shall be removed, as they may direct that supplies for the Army 
or Navy shall be kept in particular store, and it will be the duty 
of the President to see that the law is faithfully executed; yet will 
the custom remain in the executive department of the Government. 
Were the Congress to assume, with or without a legislative act, the 
power of appointing officers, independently of the President, to 
take the charge and custody of the public property contained in 
the military and naval arsenals, magazines, and storehouses, it is 
believed that such an act would be regarded by all as a palpable 
usurpation of executive power, subversive of the form as well as 
the fundamental principles of our Government. But where is the 
difference in principle whether the public property be in the form 
of arms, munitions of war, and supplies or in gold and silver or 
bank notes? None can be perceived; none is believed to exist. 
Congress can not, therefore, take out of the hands of the executive 
department the custody of the public property or money without 
an assumption of executive power and a subversion of the first 
principles of the Constitution. 

“The Congress of the United States have never passed an act 
imperatively directing that the public moneys shall be kept in any 
particular place or places. From the origin of the Government to 
the year 1816 the statue book was wholly silent on the subject. 
In 1789 a Treasurer was created, subordinate to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, and through him to the President. He was required 
to give bond safely to keep and faithfully to disburse the public 
moneys, without any direction as to the manner or places in which 
they should be kept. By reference to the practice of the Govern- 
ment it is found that from its first organization the Secretary of the 


446 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISToRY 


Treasury, acting under the supervision of the President, designated 
the places in which the public moneys should be kept, and especially 
directed all transfers from place to place. This practice was con- 
tinued, with the silent acquiescence of Congress, from 1789 to 1816, 
and although many banks were selected and discharged, and al- 
though a portion of the moneys were first placed in the state banks, 
and then in the former Bank of the United States, and upon the 
dissolution of that were again transferred to the State Banks, no 
legislation was thought necessary by Congress, and all the opera- 
tions were originated and perfected by Executive authority. The 
Secretary of the Treasury, responsible to the President, and with 
his approbation, made contracts and arrangements in relation to 
the whole subject-matter, which was thus entirely committed to - 
the direction of the President under his responsibilities to the Amer- 
ican people and to those who were authorized to impeach and 
punish him for any breach of this important trust. 

“The act of 1816 establishing the Bank of the United States 
directed the deposits of public money to be made in that bank and 
it branches in places in which the said bank and branches thereof 
may be established, ‘ unless the Secretary of the Treasury should 
otherwise order and direct,’ in which event he was required to give 
his reasons to Congress. This was but a continuation of his pre- 
existing power as the head of the Executive Department to direct 
where the deposits should be made, with the superadded obli- 
gation of giving his reasons to Congress for making them elsewhere 
than in the Bank of the United States and its branches. It is not 
to be considered that this provision in any degree altered the re- 
lation between the Secretary of the Treasury and the President as 
the responsible head of the executive department, or released the 
laster from his constitutional obligation to ‘take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed.’ On the contrary, it increased his 
responsibilities by adding another to the long list of laws which it 
was his duty to cary into effect. 

“It would be an extraordinary result if because the person 
charged by law with a public duty is one of his Secretaries it were 
less the duty of the President to see the law faithfully executed 
than other laws enjoining duties uponsubordinate officers or private 
citizens. If there be any difference, it would seem that the obli- 
gation is the stronger in relation to the former, because the neglect 
is in his presence and the remedy at hand. 

“It can not be doubted that it was the legal duty of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury to order and direct the deposits of the public 
money to be made elsewhere than in the Bank of the United States 
whenever sufficient reasons existed for making the change. If in 
such a case he neglected or refused to act, he would neglect or 
refuse to execute the law. What would be the sworn duty of the 
President? Could he say that the Constitution did not bind him 
to see the law faithfully executed because it was one of his Secre- 
taries and not himself upon whom the service was specially 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 447 


imposed? Might he not be asked whether there was any such 
limitation to his obligations prescribed in the Constitution? 
Whether he is not equally bound to take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed, whether they impose duties on the highest officer 
of state or the lowest subordinate in any of the Departments? 
Might he not be told that it was for the sole purpose of causing all 
executive officers, from the highest to the lowest, faithfully to per- 
form the services required of them by law that the people of the 
United States have made him their Chief Magistrate and the Con- 
stitution has clothed him with the entire executive power of this 
Government? The principles implied in these questions appear 
too plain to need elucidation. 

“But here also we have a cotemporaneous construction of the 
act which shows that it was not understood as in any way changing 
the relations between the President and Secretary of the Treasury, 
or as placing the latter out of Executive control even in relation to 
the deposits of the public money. Nor on that point are we leit 
to any equivocal testimony. The documents of the Treasury 
Department show that the Secretary of the Treasury did apply 
to the President and obtained his approbation and sanction Ot the 
original transfer of the public deposits to the present Bank of the 
United States, and did carry the measure into effect in obedience to 
his decision. They also show that transfers of the public deposits 
from the branches of the Bank of the United States to State Banks 
at Chillicothe, Cincinnatti, and Louisville, in 1819, were made with 
the approbation of the President and by his authority. They 
show that upon all important questions appertaining to his De- 
partment, whether they related to the public deposits or other 
matters, it was the constant practice of the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury to obtain for his acts the approval and sanction of the Presi- 
dent. These acts and the principles on which they were founded 
were known to all the departments of the Government, to Congress 
and the country, and until very recently appear never to have been 
called in question. 

“Thus was it settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the 
whole practice of the Government that the entire executive power 
is vested in the President of the United States; that as incident 
to that power the right of appointing and removing those officers 
who are to aid himin the execution of the laws, with such restric- 
tions only as the Constitution prescribes, is vested in the Pres- 
ident; that the Secretary of the Treasury is one of those officers; 
that the custody of the public property and money is an Executive 
function which, in relation to the money, has always been exercised 
through the Secretary of the Treasury and his subordinates; that 
in the performance of these duties he is subject to the supervision 
and control of the President, and in important measures having 
relation to them consults the Chief Magistrate and obtains his 
approval and sanction; that the law establishing the bank did not, 
as it could not, change the relation between the President and the 


448 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Secretary—did not release the former from his obligation to see 
the law faithfully executed nor the latter from the President’s 
supervision and control; that afterwards and before the Secretary 
did in fact consult and obtain the sanction of the President to 
transfers and removals of the public deposits, and that all depart- 
ments of the Government, and the nation itself, approved or ac- 
quiesced in these acts and principles as in strict conformity with 
our Constitution and laws. 

“During the last year the approaching termination, according 
to the provisions of its charter and the solemn decision of the 
American people, the Bank of the United States made it ex- 
pedient, and its exposed abuses and corruptions made it, in my 
opinion, the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, to place the 
moneys of the United States in other depositories. The Secre- 
tary did not concur in that opinion, and declined giving the nec- 
essary order and direction. So glaring were the abuses and cor- 
ruptions of the bank, so evident its fixed purpose to persevere in 
them, and so palpable its design by its money and power to con: 
trol the Government and change its character, that I deemed it 
the imperative duty of the Executive authority, by the exertion of 
every power confided to it by the Constitution and laws, to check 
its career and lessen its ability to do mischief, even in the painful 
alternative of dismissing the head of one of the Departments. 
At the time the removal was made other causes sufficient to justify 
it existed, but if they had not the Secretary would have been 
dismissed for this cause only. 

‘His place I supplied by one whose opinions were well known to 
me, and whose frank expression of them in another situation and 
generous sacrifices of interest and feeling when unexpectedly called 
to the station he now occupies, ought forever to have shielded his 
motives from suspicion and his character from reproach. In accor- 
dance with the views long before expressed by him he proceeded, with 
my sanction, to make arrangement for depositing the moneys 
of the United States in other safe in_titutions. 

“The resolution of the Senate as originally framed and as 
passed, if it refers to these acts, presupposes a right in that body 
to interfere with its exercise of Executive power. If the principle 
be once admitted, it is not difficult to perceive where it may end. 
If by a mere denunication like this resolution the President should 
ever be induced to act in a matter of official duty contrary to the 
honest convictions of his own mind in compliance with the wishes 
of the Senate, the constitutional independence of the executive 
department would be as effectually destroyed and its power as 
effectually transferred to the Senate as if that end had been ac- 
complished by an amendment of the Constitution. But if the 
Senate have a right to intefere with the Executive powers., they 
have also the right to make that interference effective, and if the 
assertion of the power implied in the resolution be silently ac- 
quiesced in, we may reasonably apprehend that it will be followed 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 449 


at some future day by an attempt at actual enforcement. The 
Senate may refuse, except on the condition that he will surrender 
his opinions to theirs and obey their will, to perform their own 
constitutional functions, to pass the necessary laws, to sanction 
appropriations proposed by the House of Representatives, and to 
confirm proper nominations made by the President. It has al- 
ready been maintained (and it is not conceivable that the resolution 
of the Senate can be based on any other principle) that the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury is the officer of Congress and independent of 
the President; that the President has no right to control him, and 
consequently none to remove him. With the same propriety and 
on similar grounds may the Secretary of State, the Secretaries of 
War and the Navy, and the Postmaster General each in sucession 
be declared independent of the President, the subordinates of Con- 
gress, and removable only with the concurrence of the Senate. 
Followed to its consequences, this principle will be found effect- 
ually to destroy one co-ordimate department of the Government 
to concentrate in the hands of the Senate the whole Executive 
power, to leave the President as powerless as he would be use- 
less—the shadow of authority after the substance had departed. 
“The time and the occasion which have called forth the res- 
olution of the Senate seem to impose upon me an additional obli- 
gation not to pass it over m silence. Nearly forty-five years had 
the President exercised, without a question as to his rightful 
authority, those powers for the recent assumption of which he is 
now denounced. The vicissitudes of peace and war had attended 
our Government; violent parties, watehiul to take advantage of 
any seeming usurpation on the part of the Executive, had dis- 
tracted our councils; frequent removals, had been made of the 
Secretary and other officers of the Treasury, and yet in no one 
instance is it known that any man, whether patriot or partisan, 
had raised his voice against it as a violation of the Constitution. 
The expediency and justice of such changes in reference to public 
officers of all grades have frequently been the topic of discussion, 
but the constitutional right of the President, to appoint, control, 
and remove the head of the Treasury as well as all other Depart- 
ments seems to have been universally conceded. And what is 
the occasion upon which other principles have been first officially 
asserted? The Bank of the United States, a great moneyed mon- 
oply, had attempted to obtain a renewal of its charter by con- 
trolling the elections of the people and the action of the Govern- 
ment. The use of its corporate funds and power in that attempt 
was fully disclosed, and it was made known to the President that 
the corporation was putting in train the same course of measures, 
with the: view of making another vigorous effort, through an in- 
terference in the elections of the people, to control public opinion 
and force the Government to yield to its demands. This, with 
its corruption of the press, its violation of its charter, its exclusion 
of the Government directors from its proceedings, its neglect of 


29 


450 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 


duty and arrogant pretentions, made it, in the opinion of the 
President incompatible with the public interest and the safety of 
our institutions that it should be longer employed as the fiscal 
agent of the Treasury. A Secretary of the Treasury appointed in 
ihe recess of the Senate, who had not been confirmed by that body, 
and whom the President might or might not at his pleasure nom- 
inate to them, refused to do what his superior in the executive 
department considered the most imperative of his duties, and be- 
came in fact, however innocent his motives, the protector of the 
Bank. And on this occasion it is discovered for the first time that 
those who framed the Constitution misunderstood it; that the 
first Congress and all its successors have been under a delusion; 
that the practice of near forty-five years is but a continued usurpa- 
tion; that the Secretary of the Treasury is not responsible to the 
President, and that to remove him is a violation of the Constitution 
and laws for which the President deserves to stand forever dis- 
honored on the journals of the Senate. 

‘“There are also some other circumstances connected with the 
discussion and passage of the resolution to which I feel it to be 
not only my right, but my duty, torefer. It appears by the Journal 
of the Senate that among the twenty-six Senators who voted for 
the resolution on its final passage, and who had supported it in 
debate in its original form, were one of the Senators from the 
State of Maine, the two Senators from New Jersey, and one of the 
Senators from Ohio. It also appears by the same Journal and by 
the files of the Senate that the legislatures of these States had 
severally expressed their opinions in regard to the Executive pro- 
ceedings drawn in question before the Senate. 

‘’The two branches of the legislature of the State of Maine on 
the 25th of January, 1834, passed a preamble and series of resolu- 
tions in the following words: 

‘“‘Whereas at any early period after the election of Andrew 
Jackson to the Presidency, in accordance with the sentiments which 
he had uniformly expressed, the attention of Congress was called 
to the constitutionality and expediency of the renewal of the charter 
of the United States Bank; and 

‘Whereas the bank has transcended its chartered limits in 
the management of its business transactions, and has abandoned 
the object of its creation by engaging in political controversies by 
wielding its power and influence to embarrass the Administration 
of the General Government, and by bringing insolvency and dis- 
tress upon the commerical community; and 

‘‘Whereas the public security from such an institution consists 
less in its present pecuniary capacity to discharge its liabilities 
than in the fidelity with which the trusts reposed in it have been 
executed; and 

‘“‘Whereas the abuse and misapplication of the powers conferred 
have destroyed the confidence of the public in the officers of the 
bank and demonstrated that such powers endanger the stability 

f republican institutions: Therefore, 


- aes. 
bd — 


COL. ANDREW JACKSON COFFEE, 1819-1891. 


Painted by Harte in New Orleans, Louisiana, and now the property of Col. Coffee’s daughter, Mrs. Catherine 
Coffee McDougal, of San Francisco, California. Harte studied in Italy, camr to America, married a Louisiana 
lady andlived in New Orleans. Theauthor hasin his possession from Mrs, Mary Coffee Campbell of Florence, 
Alabama, the original letter in Jackson’s handwrit ng, acknowledgeing receipt of Gen. John Coffee's letter 
telling that the General had named a newly arrived son after Old Hickory. This is the son grown to 


manhood, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 451 


“RESOLVED, that in the removal of the public deposits from 
the’Bank of the United States, as well as in the manner of their 
removal, we recognize in the Administration an adherence to 
constitutional rights and the performance of a public duty. 

“RESOLVED, That this legislature entertain the same opin- 
ion as heretofore expressed by preceding legislatures of this State, 
that the Bank of the United States ought not to be chartered. 

“RESOLVED, That the Senators of this State in the Congress 
of the United States be instructed and the Representatives be 
requested to oppose the restoration of the deposits and the re- 
newal of the charter of the United States Bank. 

“On the 11th of January, 1834, the house of assembly and coun- 
cil composing the legislature of the State of New Jersey passed a 
preamble and a series of resolutions in the following words: 

“Whereas the present crisis in our public affairs calls for a 
decided expression of the voice of the people of this State; and 

“Whereas we consider it the undoubted right of the legislatures 
of the several states to instruct those who represent their interests 
in the councils of the nations in all matters which intimately 
concern the public weal and may affect the happiness or well- 
being of the people: Therefore, 

“1. Be it resolved by the council and general assembly of this 
state, That while we acknowledge with feelings of devout grat- 
itude our obligations to the Great Ruler of Nations for his mercies 
to us as a people that we have been preserved alike from foreign 
wars, from the evils of internal commotions, and the machinations 
of designing and ambitious men who would prostrate the fair 
fabric of our Union, that we ought nevertheless to humble ourselves 
in His presence and implore His aid for the perpetuation of our re- 
publican institutions and for a continuance of that unexampled 
prosperity which our country has hitherto enjoyed. 

“2. Resolved, That we have undimished confidence in the 
integrity and firmness of the venerable patriot who now holds the 
distinguished post of Chief Magistrate of this nation, and whose 
purity of purpose and elevated motives have so often received the 
unqualified approbation of a large majority of his fellow-citizens. 

“3. Resolved, That we view with agitation and alarm the 
existence of a great moneyed incorporation which threatens to 
embarrass the operations of the Government and by means of its 
unbounded influence upon the currency of the country to scatter 
distress and ruin throughout the community, and that we therefore 
solemnly believe the present Bank of the United States ought not to 
be rechartered. 

“4, Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed 
and our members of the House of Representatives be requested to 
sustain, by their votes and influence, the course adopted by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Taney, in relation to the Bank of 
the United States and the deposits of the Government moneys, 
believing as we do the course of the Secretary to have been con- 
stitutional, and that the public good required its adoption. 


452 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“5. Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward a 
copy of the above resolutions to each of our Senators and Rep- 
resentatives from this state to the Congress of the United States. 

“On the 21st day of February last the legislature of the same 
state reiterated the opinions and instructions before given by joint 
resolutions in the following words: 

“Resolved by the council and general assembly of the State of 
New Jersey, That they adhere to the resolutions passed by them 
on the 11th day of January last, relative to the President of the 
United States, the Bank of the United States, and the course of 
Mr. Taney in removing the Government deposits. 

“Resolved, That the legislature of New Jersey have not seen 
any reason to depart from such resolutions since the passage there- 
of, and it is their wish that they should receive from our Senators 
and Representatives of this state in the Congress of the United 
States that attention and obedience which are due to the opinion 
of a sovereign state openly expressed in its legislative capacity. 

“On the 2nd of January, 1834, the senate and house ot rep- 
resentatives composing the legislature of Ohio passed a preamble 
and resolutions in the following words: 

“Whereas there is reason to believe that the Bank of the United 
States will attempt to obtain a renewal of its charter at the present 
session of Congress; and 

“Whereas it is abundantly evident that set bank has exercised 
powers derogatory to the spirit of our free institutions and danger- 
ous to the liberties of these United States; and 

“Whereas there is just reason to doubt the constitutional 
power of Congress to grant acts of incorporation for banking pur- 
poses out of the District of Columbia; and 

“Whereas we believe the proper disposal of the public lands 
to be of the utmost importance to the people of these United 
States, and that honor and good faith require their equitable dis- 
tribution: Therefore, 

“Resolved, by the general assembly of the State of Ohio, 
that we consider the removal of the public deposits from the Bank 
of the United States as required by the best interests of our country, 
and that a proper sense of public duty imperiously demanded that 
that institution should be no longer used as a depository of the 
public funds. 

“Resolved also, That we view with decided disapprobation 
the renewed attempts in Congress to secure the passage of the bill 
providing for the disposal of the public domain upon the principles 
proposed by Mr. Clay, inasmuch as we believe that such a law 
would be unequal in its operations and unjust in its result. 

‘Resolved also, That we heartily approve of the principles set 
forth in the late veto message upon that subject; and 

“Resoved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed and 
our Representatives requested to use their influence to prevent the 
re-chartering of the Bank of the United States, to sustain the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 453 


Administration in its removel of the public deposits, and to oppose 
the passage of a land bill containing the principles adopted in the 
act upon that subject passed at the last session of Congress. 

“Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit copies 
of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to each of our Senators 
and Representatives. 

“Tt is thus seen that four Senators have declared by their votes 
that the President, in the late Executive proceedings in relation to 
the revenue, had been guilty of the impeachable offense of ‘ as- 
suming upon himself authority and power not conferred by the 
Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both,’ whilst the leg- 
gislatures of their respective states had deliberately approved those 
very proceedings as consistent with the Constitution and demanded 
by the public good. If these four votes had been given in accord- 
ance with the sentiments of the legislatures, as above expressed, 
there would have been but twenty-two votes out of forty-six for 
censuring the President, and the unprecedented record of his con-. 
viction could not have been placed upon the Journal of the Senate. 

“Tn thus referring to the resolutions and instructions of the 
state legislatures I disclaim and repudiate all authority or design 
to interfere with the responsibility due from members of the Senate 
to their own consciences, their constituents, and their country. 
The facts now stated belong to the history of these proceedings, 
and are important to the just development of the principles and 
interests involved in them as well as to the proper vindication of 
the executive department, and with that view only, are they here 
made the topic of remark. 

‘*The dangerous tendency of the doctrine which denies to the 
President the power of supervising, directing, and controlling the 
Secretary of the Treasury in like manner with the other executive 
officers would soon be manifest in practice were the doctrine to be 
established. The President is the direct representative of the 
American people, but the Secretaries are not. If the Secretary 
of the Treasury be independent to the President in the execution 
of the laws, then there is no direct responsibility to the people in 
that important branch of this Government to which is committed 
the care of the national finances. And it isin the power of the Bank 
of the United States, or any other corporation, body of men, or 
individuals, if a Secretary shall be found to accord with them in 
opinion or can be induced in practice to promote their views, to 
control through him the whole action of the Government, (so far 
as it is exercised by his Department) in defiance of the Chief 
Magistrate elected by the people and responsible to them. 

“But the evil tendency of the particular doctrine adverted to, 
though sufficiently serious, would be as nothing in comparison 
with the pernicious consequences which would inevitably flow 
from the approbation and allowance by the people and the practice 
by the Senate of the unconstitutional power of arraigning and 
censuring the official conduct of the Executive in the manner re- 


454 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISToRY 


cently pursued. Such proceedings are eminently calculated to 
unsettle the foundations of the Government, to disturb the har- 
monious action of its different departments, and to break down the 
checks and balances by which the wisdom of its framers sought to 
insure its stability and usefullness. 

‘The honest difference of opinion which occasionally exist be- 
tween the Senate and the President in regard to matters in which 
both are obliged to participate are sufficiently embarrassing; but 
if the course recently adopted by the Senate shall hereafter be 
frequently pursued, it is not only obvious that the harmony of the 
relations between the President and the Senate be destroyed, but 
that other and graver effects will ultimately ensue. If the cen- 
surers of the Senate be submitted to by the President, the confi- 
dence of the people in his ability and virtue and the character and 
usefullness of his Administration will soon be at an end, and the 
real power of the Government will fall into the hands of a body 
holding their offices for long terms, not elected by the people and 
not to them directly responsible. If, on the other hand, the illegal 
censures of the Senate should be resisted by the President, vollisions 
and angry controversies might ensue, discreditable in their progress 
and in the end compelling the people to adopt the conclusion either 
that their Chief Magistrate was unworthy of their respect or that 
the Senate was chargeable with calumny and injustice. Either 
of these results would impair public confidence in the perfection 
of the system and to serious alternations of its framework or to 
the practical abandonment of some of its provisions. 

‘The influence of such proceedings on the other departments of 
the Government, and more especially on the States could not fail 
to be extensively pernicious. When the judges in the last resort 
of official misconduct themselves overleap the bounds of their 
authority as prescribed by the Constitution, what general disregard 
of its provisions might not their example be expected to produce? 
And who does not perceive that such contempt of the Federal 
Constitution by one of its most important departments would 
hold out the strongest temptations to resistance on the part of 
the state sovereignties whenever they shall suppose their just 
rights to have been invaded? Thus all the independent depart- 
ments of the Government, and the states which compose our con- 
federated Union, instead of attending to their appropriate duties 
and leaving those who may offend to be reclaimed or punished in 
the manner pointed out in the Constitution, would fall to mutual 
crimination and recrimination and give to the people confusion and 
anarchy instead of order and law, until at length some form of 
aristocratic power would be established on the ruins of the Consti- 
tution or the States be broken into separate communities. 

“Far be it from me to charge or to insinuate that the present 
Senate of the United States intend in the most distant way to 
encourage such a result. It is not of their motives or designs, 
but only of the tendency of theirs, t acthat it is my duty to speak. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 455 


It is, if possible to make Senators themselves sensible of the 
danger which lurks under the precedent set in their resolution, and 
at any rate to perform my duty as the responsible head of one of 
the coequal departments of the Government, that I have been 
compelled to point out the consequences to which the discussion 
and passage of the resolution may lead if the tendency of the 
measure be not checked in its inception. It is due to high trust 
with which I am charged, to those who may be called to succeed 
me in it, to the representatives of the people whose constitutional 
perogative has been unlawfully assumed, to the people of the 
States, and to the Constitution they have established that I should 
not permit its provisions to be broken down by such an attack on 
the executive department without at least some effort ‘to pre- 
serve, protect, and defend,’ them. With this view, and for the 
reasons which have been stated, I do hereby solemnly protest 
against the aforementioned proceedings of the Senate as unauthor- 
ized by the Constitution, contrary to its spirit and to several of 
its express provisions, subversive of that distribution of the power 
of the Government which it has ordained and established, de- 
structive of the checks and safeguards by which those powers were 
intended on the one hand to be controlled and on the other to be 
protected, and calculated by their immediate and collateral effects, 
by their character and tendency to concentrate in the hands of a 
body not directly amenable to the people, a degree of influence and 
power dangerous to their liberties and fatal to the Constitution 
of their choice. — 

“The resolution of the Senate contains an imputation upon 
my private as well as upon my public character, and as it must 
stand forever on their journals, I can not close this substitute for 
that defense which I have not been allowed to present in the ordi- 
nary form, without remarking that I have lived in vain if it be 
necessary to enter into a formal vindication of my character and 
purposes from such an imputation. In vain do I bear upon my 
person enduring memorials of that contest in which American 
liberty was purchased; in vain have I since periled property, fame, 
and life in defense of the rights and privileges so dearly bought; 
in vain am I now, without a personal aspiration or the hope of 
individual advantage, encounting responsibilities and dangers from 
which by mere inactivity in relation to a single point I might have 
been exempt, if any serious doubts can be entertained as to the purity 
of my purposes and motives. If I had been ambitious, I should 
have sought an alliance with that powerful institution which even 
now aspires to no divided empire. If I had been venal, I should 
have sold myself to its designs. Had I preferred personal comfort 
and official ease to the performance of my arduous duty, I should 
have ceased to molest it. In the history of conquerors and usur- 
pers, never in the fire of youth nor in the vigor of manhood could 
I find an attraction to lure me from the path of duty, and now I 
shall scarcely find an inducement to commence their career of 


456 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


ambition when gray hairs and a decaying frame, instead of in- 
viting to toil and battle, call me to the contemplation of other 
worlds, where conquerors cease to be honored and usurpers expiate 
their crimes. The only ambition I can feel is to acquit myself to 
Him to whom I must soon render an account on my stewardship, 
to serve my fellow-men, and live respected and honored in the 
history of my country. No; the ambition which leads me on is an 
anxious desire and a fixed determination to return to the people 
unimpaired the sacred trust they have confided to my charge; to 
heal the wounds of the Constitution and preserve it from further 
violation; to persuade my countrymen, so far as I may, that it is 
not in a splendid government supported by powerful monoplies 
and aristocratical establishments that they will find happiness or 
their liberties protection, but in a plain system, void of pomp, 
protecting all and granting favors to none, dispensing its blessings, 
like the dews of heaven, unseen and unfelt save in the freshness and 
beauty they contribute to produce. It is such a government that a 
genius of our people requires; such an one only under which our 
states may remain for ages to come united, prosperous and free. 
If the Almighty Being who has hitherto sustained and protected me 
will but vouchsafe to make my feeble powers instrumental to 
such a result, I shall anticipate with pleasure the place to be as- 
signed me in the history of my country, and die contented with the 
belief that I have contributed in some small degree to increase the 
value and prolong the duration of American liberty. 

‘To the end that the resolution of the Senate may not be here- 
after drawn into precedent with the authority of silent acquiescence 
on the part of the executive department, and to the end also that 
my motives and views in Executive proceedings denounced in 
that resolution may be known to my fellow-citizens, to the world, 
and to all posterity, I respectfully request that this message 
and protest may be entered at length on the journals of the Sen- 
abe 


MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1782-1862, 
United States Senator 1821-1828; Governor of New York, resigned March 12, 1829; Secetary of State in Jack= 
son’s first Cabinet 1829-1831; Minister to England but not confirmed by the Senate; Vice President 1833-1837; 
President 1837-1841, 


Lge 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 457 


aa. 
CHAPTER 18. 
rd 
Martin Van Buren and his Autobiography. 5 


In 1919 the United States Government issued through its 
printing office an autobiography of Martin Van Buren which 
brings his life down to 1834. The existence of this autobiography 
was unknown to the general American public, but known to a 
limited number of students and historical writers. 

Its ‘‘Prefatory Note” states that “‘the autobiography was pre- 
sented to the Library of Congress by Mrs. Smith Thompson Van 
Buren, of Fishkill, New York, in 1905, and at the same time the 
Van Buren papers were presented to the Library by Mrs. Smith 
Thompson Van Buren and Dr. and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish Morris, 
of New York City. A Calendar of the papers was published by 
the Library in 1910.” 

“The autobiography is the manuscript copy in seven folio 
volumes—1247 pages—made by Smith Thompson Van Buren, the 
son and literary executor of the President, from Van Buren 
original draft. Portions of volumes 6 and 7 are in another hand, 
and the last fifteen pages of the manuscript having many changes 
and corrections by Van Buren himself. 

“The autobiography is written with engaging frankness, and 
the insight it affords to the mental process of a master politician 
is deeply interesting. Van Buren’s desire to be scrupulously fair 
in his estimates is evident, and if he did not always succeed, his 
failures are not discredible. Though the autobiography does not 
compel the revision of established historical judgments, it yet pre- 
sents authority for much in our political history hereto somewhat 
conjectural, and records political motives and activities of the 
period in an illuminating and suggestive way. In analyzing men 
and measures, Van Buren, all unconsciously paints a picture of 
himself, and it is a truthful and worthy portrait.” 

This Prefatory Note was written by the Assistant Chief, Manu- 
script Division, Library of Congress, and we agree with its state- 
ment that the autobiography as written affords an insight into 
the mental processes of a “master politician’’, but we dissent from 
its opinion that its apparent engaging frankness is a full and candid 
exposure by Mr. Van Buren of his own motives or of the incidents 
which he professes to relate. 


458 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


We agree also that the autobiography does not compel the re- 
vision of established historical judgments, and this because, while 
Mr. Van Buren is apparently frank, he is evidently not always 
entirely candid and wholly sincere. We can hardly believe that 
Mr. Van Buren tells the whole truth about incidents he relates, 
and we do not believe that this autobiography will have the result 
of relieving his memory of the charge made against him for a life- 
time, that he was merely an able politician. This charge was so 
repeatedly made and so generally believed that he was popularly 
given the name of “the little magician”. As this book cannot 
change that estimate of him, it would have been best for his mem- 
ory that the book had not been written. It confirms by the testi- 
mony of his own handwriting the popular charge, and our opinion 
is that Mr. Van Buren will continue to remain as a fixed member 


of that class of persons who are denominated American Politicians. 

It may be said that no politician is frank and candid all the 
time, which may be true; but it is certainly true that the American 
people have never elevated to their class of statesmen political 
leaders who have not been frank and candid and honorable in the 
statement of the motives and causes of their actions. 


In the story Mr. Van Buren tells of himself, we fail to find any 
motives higher than those that usually move politicians—policy 
and success. As we read, we wish we could see the man, now and 
then, with candor and sincerity, get up on a higher plane and think 
some fine thought because it was intrinsically fine to think it; 
relate some great noble deed which he carried out because it was 
great and noble to perform it; tell of initiating some indeal move- 
ment on behalf of his kind, because man is at his loftiest and best 
when he unselfishly serves his fellowman. 


We are constantly impressed with the correctness of the appel- 
lation given him in the Prefatory Note, where he is called a ““Master 
Politician’. We sigh for him to write it down that he sometimes 
did lift himself out of his accustomed self and become a man, even 
for a moment, that was bigger, nobler, more disinterested, than 
the every day Martin Van Buren. We are forced to feel, after 
reading his autobiography, that with Mr. Van Buren there was 
nothing loftier in all this world than the aggrandizement, success, 
and progress of himself. 

If this book had not been written, posterity might have said 
that history is not always fair and does not always do justice, and 


ANDREW JACKSON AND Earty TENNESSEE History 459 


that Mr. Van Buren’s success m politics had created envious critics 
_ who were jealous of him; but the book forces, for all time to come, 
the unhappy conclusion that an American President was just am 
American politician, and m that class he must remaim with poster- 


ity. 


INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


Mr. Van Buren gives the followmg mtroduction to his auto- 

biography - 
“Villa Falogola, 
Sorrento, Jume 12, 1854. 

“At the age of seventy-one, and m a foreign land, I commenced 
a sketch of the principal events of my Itfe. I etter upom this work 
i ees Coed frst nic 
by friends om whose judgments and sagacity I have beem accustom- 
ed to rely. Aesth cota oll haat hetaebciclel cx ecard 
compliance with their wishes has been presented, but am unaffected 
diffidence to assume that the scenes of which they desire to per- 

te the memory will be found to possess sufficient mterest to 

justify such a notice. That thei opmuons m regard to the question 
have not been biased by the partiality of them ardent friendship is 
hardly to be supposed, yet it ought mot perhaps to surprise me that 
they should have thought not a few of our comtemporaries and 
successors would be mterested, amd possibly the young men of the 
country benefited by a thorough and frank accowmt of the rise 
and progress of one who, without the aid of powerful famnly con- 
nections, and with but few of the advamtageous — for = 
acquisition of political power had been eae Na lira 
to a succession of official trusts, mot exceeded readied ithe 3 im 
number, im dignity, or m responsibility, by amy that have been 
committed to the hands of one man—comsisting of the repre- 
sentative offices of Surrogate of his Country, State Senator, 
Attorney-General of the State of New York, Regent of the Uni- 
versity, Member of a Convention to revise the “Constitution of 
the State, Governor of the State, Senator m Comgress, for two 
terms, Secretary of State of the Untted States, Mimister te Eng- 
land, Vice President, amd President of the United States.” 

‘There are some episodes m Mr. Vam Buren’s career that ihmmi- 
mate the mam’s methods and morale so clearly that no ome can 
deposits was mitsacute stageisim pomt. General Jackson wanted 
Van Buren’s opmion and advice om the matter and that supreme 
courtier and diplomat was loath to take a stand yet afraid not to do 
so, so om August 19th, 1833, he sent Jacksom this reply- 

“This bank matter is to be the great fimale of your public 
life and I feel om that account 2 degree of solicitude about it 


460 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


but little less than that which is called for by the public con- 
siderations connected therewith. I hope that we shall in the end 
see the matter in precisely the same light; but, be that as it may, 
in as much as I know no man in the purity of whose intentions 
as it respects the public, I have greater or as great confidence 
as I have in yourself, and as I cannot but look upon you as in- 
conquerable and the most faithful, efficient and disinterested 
friend I have ever had, so I am with you against the world, 
whether it respects men or things.” 

This was undoubtedly the summit of all personal loyalty— 
if sincere. The intense intimacy between Jackson and Van Buren 
is not difficult to account for when the character of the two men 
is taken into consideration. Van Buren’s devotion to Jackson was 
purely a matter of politics and self-interest. He would have been 
just as devoted to any other man of Jackson’s phenomenal in- 
fluence or even less, who was willing to assist him as much as 
Jackson evidently was. Van Buren was courtier, manipulator, 
flatterer, and politician and he cast as many anchors to windward 
as any man that ever figured conspicuously in American politics. 
Jackson, on the other hand, was unquestionably caught by Van 
Buren’s flattery and adroitness and his apparent frankness and 
sincerity. He liked Van Buren and one’s first impression is that 
it was a peculiar association between men who were so radically 
different in every respect. Jackson could see no evil in his friends 
and little, if any, good in his enemies, and Van Buren had wormed 
himself into his confidence to the extent that Old Hickory was 
blind to the kind of man he was. Also, Van Buren possessed qual- 
ities which Old Hickory lacked and which were complementary 
to his deficiencies and Jackson saw and greatly appreciated this. 


After the above letter was written, Jackson wanted Van Buren 
to come to Washington to consult with him about the deposits, 
and this request, evidently, Van Buren did not want to comply 
with, but again was afraid not to do so, and in his smooth, sugges- 
tive way, he wrote to Jackson :— 


“T shall be governed in that matter (the deposits) altogether 
by your wishes. You know that the game of the opposition is 
to relieve the question as far as they can from the influence of 
your well deserved popularity with the people, by attributing 
the removal of the deposits to the solicitation of myself and the 
moneyed Junto in New York, and that it is not your intention to 
play into the enemies hands, you will not I know request me 
to come down unless there is some adequate inducement for 
my so doing. With this consideration in view you have only to 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 461 


suggest the time when you wish me to come down and I will come 
forthwith. * * * And always remember that I think it is an honor 
to share any portion of responsibility in this affair.” 


One can almost see Mr. Van Buren smile broadly as he wrote 
the last sentence. Responsibility in this affair was the very thing 
he did not want to share, and he was bringing to bear all of his 
great ability in adroitness to divest himself of responsibility, and, 
at the same time, keep on the most intimate terms with General 
Jackson and retain the General as his loyal friend and political 
champion. 

Van Buren rose to the summit of audacity and nerve when on 
October 2nd, 1833, he wrote to Jackson again in this manner :— 


“You will see by the enclosed that the opposition have used 
the game I anticipated. They have found by experience that 
their abuse of you is labor lost and they concluded wisely that 
if they could succeed in shifting the bank question from your 
shoulders that they would be better able to serve manna than 
they are at present. Now, although I cannot gamble at the 
service they are rendering me with the people by identifying me 
with you in this manner, it will not do for us to expose the great 
measure to prejudice by doing anything that would tend in the 
slightest degree to draw from it the protection of your name.” 


It is doubtful if any courtier or flatterer ever delivered to his 
victim insincere adoration more adroit and alluring than this, 


and it seems certain that General Jackson never suspected the 
sincerity of the Little Man who wrote this to him. 


Edward M. Shepard, Van Buren’s biographer, American 
Statesman Series, relates an incident which leaves an exceedingly 


bad taste in one’s mouth, so to speak, as follows: 

During the Jackson-Adams campaign the younger Hamilton 
was about sending to some important person an account of General 
Jackson. Van Buren knowing of this wrote to Hamilton, and after 
signing his name added: “P. S. Does the old gentleman have 
prayers in his own home? If so, mention it modestly.” 

This is offensive to a refined man’s conception of propriety 
and good breeding, and coming from one who at one time was 
President of the United States, it lowers that high official to the 
vote-getting level and methods of a ward-politician. We cannot 
wonder that ““Demagogue’”’ was one of the milder terms applied 
by his contemporaries to Mr. Van Buren. 


THE APPOINTMENT OF RANDOLPH. 


We said above that Van Buren did not always give all of the 
reasons for his political actions and that his frankness often stopped 


462 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


half-way. He did things and said things that could not have been 
done and said by a perfectly frank and candid man, and what is 
worse, he was not always frank and candid with Andrew Jackson, 
who believed in his truthfulness, loyalty, and veracity, and who 
made him President of the United States, and without whom he 
never would have become President. 


A study of his account of the appointment of John Randolph 
as Minister to Russia puts the brand on Van Buren, and we are 
able to tell of this appointment in his own words in his auto- 
biography, as follows: 


“The appointment as envoy to Russia, of John Randolph, 
of Virginia, or as he described himself, of Roanoke, became too 
conspicious a feature of the early years of the Jackson admin- 
istration to be passed over without notice. Early in the autumn of 
1829, the President and myself rode out to Arlington to pay a visit 
to Mr. and Mrs. Custis, and the conversation, whilst we were there, 
turned on the subject of Mr. Randolph, whose name had been 
casually introduced. As we were returning, I told my companion 
that I had a suggestion to make to him, which would surprise him, 
and that his astonishment would probably be much increased, 
when I assured him in advance that the step I was about to propose 
was one which I would neither take myself, if I were in his place, 
nor recommend to any other President, but which I thought he 
might take, although not without hazard. To his puzzled look 
and demand for information, I replied:— “‘It is to give John Ran- 
dolph, of whom we have just been talking, a foreign mission.” 
He acknowledged his astonishment, but expressed a willingness 
to hear my reasons for the suggestion. Van Buren then proceeded 
to give General Jackson reasons which he denominated “humane 
and praiseworthy’’, and said that “if he, Randolph, died, without 
some further opportunity to exert professionally the remarkable 
capacities, intelligence, sagacity and knowledge of men which he 
possessed, he would leave the world in the opinion that he had been 
impracticable and unprofitable. * * * An object so humane 
and so praiseworthy, might be appropriately and hopefully at- 
tempted by General Jackson, to which I (Van Buren) added a 
strong expression of satisfaction I would derive from having made 
myself in any degree instrumental in its accomplishment.” 

Van Buren then proposed to give his knowledge of John 
Randolph, derived from an intimacy that apparently had extended 
over many years, and it is this very knowledge of Randolph that 
makes even a suggestion of his being a Minister to Russia practi- 
cally treason to General Jackson, and proves the cold blooded in- 
difference and lack of real honorable friendship on the part of Van 
Buren to Jackson’s administration. No one can read Randolph’s 
life without reaching the conclusion that there was not a more 
undesirable citizen in the United States to select as Minister 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 463 


to Russia or any other nation. Randolph was practically an insane 
man, drank liquor to excess and frequently was not at himself and 
had no quality that would enable him to perform the duties of a 
minister ora diplomat. One of the many curious things about 
this autobiography is that in the matter of the appointment 
of Randolph, Van Buren sets out the very qualities which should 
make his appointment unthinkable. 


JACKSON TO RANDOLPH. 


“Washington, September 16, 1829. 
“Dear Sir: 

“The office of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Russia will soon become vacant, and I am anxious 
that the place should be filled by one of the most capable and 
distinguished of our fellow-citizens. 

“The great and rapidly increasing influence of Russia in the 
affairs of the world, renders it very important that our represent- 
ative at that Court should be of the highest respectability; and 
the expediency of such a course at the present moment is greatly 
increased by circumstances of a special character. Among the 
number of our statesmen from whom the selection might with 
propriety be made, I do not know one better fitted for the station, 
on the score of talents and experience in public affairs, or possessing 
stronger claims upon the favorable consideration of his country, 
than yourself. Thus impressed, and entertaining a deep and grate- 
ful sense of your long and unceasing devotion to sound principles, 
and the interest of the people, I feel it a duty to offer the appoint- 
ment to you. 

“In discharging this office I have the double satisfaction of 
seeking to promote the public interest, whilst performing an act 
most gratifying to myself, on account of the personal respect and 
esteem which I have always felt and cherished towards you. 

“It is not foreseen that any indulgence as to the period of your 
departure, which will be required by a due regard to your private 
affairs, will conflict with the interests of the mission; and I sin- 
cerely hope that no adverse circumstances may exist, sufficient 
to deprive the country of your services. 

“T have the honor to be, with great respect, 

“Your most ob’t serv’t, 


“Andrew Jackson. 
“The Hon. John Randolph, of Roanoke. 


RANDOLPH’S REPLY. 


“Roanoke, September 24, 1829. 

“Sir: By the last mail I received, under Mr. Van Buren’s 

cover, your letter, submitting to my acceptance the mission to 
Russia. 

“This honor, as unexpected as it was unsought for, is very 


464 -ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


much enhanced in my estimation, by the very kind and flattering 
terms in which you have been pleased to counch the offer of the 
appointment. May I be pardoned for saying, that the manner in 
which it has been conveyed could alone have overcome the re- 
luctance that I feel at the thoughts of leaving private life, and again 
embarking on the stormy sea of federal politics. “This I hope I may 
do without any impeachment of my patriotism, since it shall in 
no wise diminish my exertions to serve our country in the station 
to which I have been called by her chief magistrate, and under those 
‘circumstances of a special character’ indicated by your letter. 
The personal good opinion and regard, which you kindly express 
towards me, merit and receive my warmest acknowledgements. 

“T have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your 
most obedient and faithful servant, 


“John Randolph, of Roanoke. 
“To Andrew Jackson, Esq., President of the U.S. 


Randolph'was duly appointed, confirmed, went to Russia 
and Van Buren tells the result. 


“Distressed by the dangerous illness of his favorite Juba, and 
alarmed about his own health, he (Randolph) left St. Petersburg, 
panic stricken by its climate, for London shortly after his arrival 
at his post, and never returned to it. Other consideration and 
feeling may and very probably did contribute to produce this re- 
sult, but it would now be worse than useless to speculate about 
them. We did not even then think it profitable to inquire about 
them regarding the denouement as conclusively proving his un- 
fitness for the diplomatic service and our mistake in electing him. ’ 


RANDOLPH’S EXPERIENCE IN ST. PETERSBURG. 


Mr. Randolph arrived in St. Petersburgh about the last of 
August. He writes to Dr. Brockenbrough, 4th September: 


‘““My reception has been all that the most fastidious could wish. 
You know I always dreaded the summer climate, when my friends 
were killing me with the climate of Russia before my time. Noth- 
ing can be more detestable. It is a comet; and when I arrived it 
was in perihelion. I shall not stay out the aphelion. Heat, dust 
impalpable, prevading every part and pore, and actually sealing 
these last up, annoying the eyes especially, which are farther 
distressed by the glare of the white houses. Insects of all nauseous 
descriptions, bugs, fleas, mosquitos, flies innumerable, gigantic 
as the empire they inhabit; who will take no denial. Under 
cover of the spectacles, they do not suffer you to write two words, 
without a conflict with them. This is the land of Pharoah and his 
plagues—Egypt, and its ophthalmia and vermin, without its 
fertility—Holland, without its wealth, improvements, or cleanli- 
ness. Nevertheless, it is beyond all comparision, the most magnif- 
icent city I ever beheld. But you must not reckon upon being 


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ANDREW JACKSON. 
Photographed from Painting by Earle, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 465 


laid in earth; there is, properly speaking, no such thing here. It 
is rotten rubbish on a swamp; and at two feet you come to water. 
This last is detestable. The very ground has a bad odor, and the 
air is not vital. Two days before my presentation to the Emperor 
and Empress, I was taken with an ague. But my poor Juba lay 
at the point of death. His was a clear case of black vomit; and 
I feel assured that in the month of August, Havana or New Orleans 
would be as safe for a stranger as St. Petersburgh. It is a Dutch 
town, with fresh-water-river canals, etc. To drink the water is to 
insure a dysentery of the worst type. 

“In consequence of Juba’s situation, I walked down one morn- 
ing to the English boarding house, where Clay had lodged, kept 
by a Mrs. Wilson, of whom I had heard a very high character as a 
nurse, and especially of servants. I prevailed upon her to take 
charge of the poor boy, which she readily agreed to do. I put 
Juba, on whom I had practised with more than Russian energy, 
into my carriage, got into it, brought him into the bedroom taken 
for myself, had a blazing fire kindled, so as to keep the thermometer 
at 65 degrees morning, 70 degrees afternoon; ventilated well the 
apartment; poured in the quinine, opium, and port wine; snake- 
root tea for drink, with a heavy hand (he had been previously 
purged with mercurials), and to that energy, under God, I owe the 
life of my dear faithful Juba. 

“Nothing could be more cordial than my reception in Russia. 
It was but yesterday (Dec. 19, 1830) that I had my first inter- 
_ View with Prince Lieven since his return to this court, and my 
reception was like that of a brother. 

“On my arrival at St. Petersburgh I took up my abode at 
the principal hotel, Demouth’s, where I staid one week. 

“Furnishing myself with a handsome equipage and four or 
five horses, I called promptly on every diplomatic character, 
whether Ambassador, Envoy, or Charge, or even Secretary of 
Legation, from the highest to the lowest. Not content with send- 
ing round my carriage and servants, I called in person and left my 
cards. 

“Count Athalin, the new representative of France, promptly 
called on me (being a later comer), and the next day, being ill a-bed, 
I sent my coach and Secretary of Legation to return his visit. 
I had previously called on the Charge d’ Affaires of France under 
Charles X. 

“T had not, during my sojourn in St. Petersburgh, the slightest 
difference with any one, except a British subject, and that was on 
the construction of a contract. This man (my landlord) and his 
niece were my fellow-passengers from Cronstadt, and we parted on 
the most civil and friendly terms. 

“He is not the author of these slanders. 

“Before I thought of cancelling the bargain with Smith, I 
had applied to Mrs. Wilson to receive and nurse my poor Juba. 
I removed to her house myself, not as a boarder, but a lodger, and 


30 


466 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 


took a room on the ground floor. Except Clay and Capt. Turner, 
of the ship Fama of Boston, to whom I intrusted my faithful 
Juba, I did not set eyes upon one of the inmates of, the house. 
Capt. T. at my request was often in my apartment, and to him 
I fearlessly appeal for the falsehood of these calumnies, so far 
as I came under his observation. ‘They are utterly false. 

“ *The Court Tailor.’ A day or two after I got to Demouth’s 
Hotel, a person very unceremoniously opened my parlor door and 
advanced to my bed-room, where I was lying on a sofa. He was 
the American Counsul’s Tailor, and said, ‘he had been sent for,’ but 
seemed abashed at finding the Consul with me. I, seeing through 
the trick (it is universally practised there), told him he had been 
misinformed, and the man apologized and withdrew. He was 
sent for about ten days afterwards, and made some clothes for Mr. 
Clay. 

“T did not refuse to land at Cronstadt. The authorities 
came on board to visit me, and when they returned, I entered the 
steamboat and proceeded up to St. Petersburgh. 

“My dress, on presentation to their Imperial Majesties, was . 
a full suit of the finest’black cloth that London could afford; 
and, with the exception of a steel-cap sword, was the dress of Mr. 
Madison during the late Convention. (I had indeed no diamond 
buckles). In the same dress, never worn except upon those two 
occasions (with the exception of gold shoe and knee buckles, 
adopted out of pity to Mr. McLane, and laying aside, at his in- 
stance, the sword) I was presented at court here. On neither 
occasion did I think of my costume after I had put it on; nor did 
I attract observation; and I am well satisfied that the love of dis- 
play on the part of some of our own foreign agents and the pruriency 
of female frontlets for coronets and tiaras, have been at the 
bottom of our court-dress abroad. It is not expected or desired, 
that a foreign minister shall have exacted from him what is the 
duty of a subject. I saw Prince Talleyrand at the King’s levee 
as plainly dressed asI was. But what satisfies me on the subject is, 
that Prince Lieven, on whose goodness I threw myself for instruc- 
tion at St. Petersburgh, and who saw me in the dress (chosen by 
Polonious’s advice) never hinted anything on the subject; but 
truly said that ‘his Majesty the Emperior would receive me as one 
gentleman receives another:’ and such was the fact. 


On page 426, Mr. Van Buren enters into an analysis of Ran- 
dolph’s indiosyncrasies, all of which he knew for years before he 
made his very curious recommendation to General Jackson, on 
their ride out to call on Mr. and Mrs. Custis. This analysis, which 
we quote, shows that Van Buren knew the total unfitness of Ran- 
dolph for any diplomatic position. 

Mr. Van Buren analyses Randolph thus: 

“Mr. Randolph was an inscrutable man—the most so I ever 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 467 


knew. His Indian descent, of which, as I have elsewhere said, 
he was unaffectedly proud, was in nothing else, not even in his 
looks, so strongly displayed as in his inflexible resistance to every 
thing like attempts to read his motives or thoughts on particular 
occasions or to acquire a general knowledge of his idiocrasy. Dia- 
metrically opposite to that frank disposition which takes pride 
in ready disclosure of itself in perfect sincerity to whomsoever may 
have an interest in knowing it was the sentiment which influenced 
him in shrouding himself, his motives, his acts, and even his move- 
ments in mystery, and to resent any attempts, however friendly or 
well intended, to penetrate it or to understand his character. He 
was, notwithstanding, always a study to me and on one occasion, 
during our long and close intimacy, I endeavoured to avail myself 


» of some incident not of course to pry into his secrets but to obtain 
“a glimpse of the inner chambers of the man’s real constitution who 


Was on occasions so great a puzzle. He suddenly turned upon me, 
as if offended, saying “I understand you, Sir! You are ambitious 
to look deeper into my dispositions than I am inclined to let you— 
you think you understand me already, but you are mistaken, you 
know nothing at all about me! There has been but one person in 
the world who understood me perfectly—but one who compre- 
hended my character and that person was not of the earth, earth- 
ly.” The person he alluded to was his worthy mother, of whom he 
oiten spoke and always with the utmost love and veneration; 
but even here he adopted a mode of expression to prevent me from 
certainly knowing to whom he alluded by avoiding a description of 
his or her sex. I was naturally not disposed to inquire further 
either upon that or upon the principal point. In a similar spirit he 
guarded the knowledge of the state of his health as much as possible 
from others. While it formed a principal staple of his daily con- 
versation, no person, however well acquainted with him, could 
ascertain anything very definite or reliable in regard to it. Altho’ 
this was partly a consequence of its variable character it was also in 
a great degree an affair of policy. Strange as it may appear to 
those who were not well acquainted with this strange man his 
health was one of his weapons of war in the contentions in which he 
was all his life involved. It served as a cloak for omissions which he 
could not otherwise satisfactorily excuse and its fitful character 
put it out of the power of his enemies ever to calculate safely upon 
his absence or his presence among them on any particular occasion. 
When he was confined to his bed and to all appearances in the ex- 
tremity of suffering from disease, there was scarcely ever a certain- 
ty that he would not suddenly repair to the hall of the Legislature 
and take a part in the debates, especially if they concerned a matter 
in which he was interested or in which he could make himself felt.” 

“That he was a man of extraordinary intelligence, well edu- 
cated, well informed on most subjects, thoroughly grounded in the 
history and rationale of the Constitution and of the Government 
that was formed under it, eloquent in debate and wielding a power 


468 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


of invective superior to that of any man of his day is unquestion- 
able, but with all these liberal endowments he lacked a balance- 
wheel to regulate his passions and to guide his judgment. This 
grand deficiency which the whole course of his previous life had 
given us strong reason to suspect was deplorably demonstrated by 
the transactions of which we are speaking. Few men had enjoyed 
better opportunities during ten preceding years to form an opinion 
of his character and capacities than myself and the error into which 
I fell betrayed, therefor, an inadequacy of observation or a weak- 
ness of judgment which I could not too much regret. My mistake 
was as I have said, considering the relation in which I stood to the 
appointment, a fair subject for the animadversion of my political 
adversaries.”’ 


THOMAS H BurTon’s ESTIMATE OF RANDOLPH. 


“To comprehend him, he must be judged as a whole—phys- 
ically and mentally—and under many aspects, and for his entire 
life. He was never well—a chronic victim of ill health from the 
cradle to the grave. A letter from his most intimate and valued 
friend, Mr. Macon, written to me after his death, expressed the 
belief that he had never enjoyed during his life one day of perfect 
health—such as well people enjoy. Such life-long suffering must 
have its effect on the temper and on the mind; and it had on his— 
bringing the temper often to the querulous mood, and the state 
of his mind sometimes to the question of insanity; a question which 
became judicial after his death, when the validity of his will came 
to be contested. I had my opinion on the point, and gave it 
responsibly in a deposition duly taken, to be read on the trial of 
the will; and in which a belief in his insanity, at several specified 
periods, was fully expressed—with the reasons for the opinion. 
I had good opportunities of forming an opinion, living in the same 
house with him several years, having his confidence, and seeing 
him at all hours of the day and night. It also on several occasions 
became my duty to study the question, with a view to govern my 
own conduct under critical circumstances. ‘Twice he applied to 
me to carry challenges for him. It would have been inhuman to 
have gone out with a man not in his right mind, and critical to 
one’s self, as an accident on the ground might seriously compromise 
the second. My opinion was fixed, of occasional temporary 
aberrations of mind; and during such periods, he would do and 
say strange things—but always in his own way—not only method, 
but genius in his fantasies: nothing to bespeak a bad heart, but 
only exaltation and excitement. The most brilliant talk that I ever 
heard from him came forth on such occasions—a flow for hours 
(at one time seven hours) of copious wit and classic allusion—a 
perfect scattering of the diamonds of the mind. I heard a friend 
remark on one of these occasions, ‘he has wasted intellectual 
jewelry enough here this evening to equip many speakers for great 
orations.’ I once sounded him on the delicate point of his own 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 469 


opinion of himself: of course when he was in a perfectly natural 
state, and when he had said something to permit an approach to 
such a subject. It was during his last visit to Washington, two 
winters before he died. It was in my room, in the gloom of the 
evening light, as the day was going out and the lamps not lit—no 
one present but ourselves—he reclining on a sofa, silent and 
thoughtful, speaking but seldom, and I only in reply, I heard him 
repeat, as if to himself, those lines from Johnson (which in fact 
I had often heard from him before) on ‘Senility and Imbecility,’ 
which show us life under its most melancholy form: 
““Tn life’s last scenes what prodigies surprise, 
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! 
From Marlborough’s eyes the streams of dotage flow, 
And Swift expires, a driveller and a show.’ 

“When he had thus repeated these lines, which he did with deep 
feeling, and in slow and measured cadence, I deemed it excusable 
to make a remark of a kind which I had never ventured on before; 
and ‘said: Mr. Randolph, I have several times heard you repeat these 
lines, as if they could have an application to yourself, while no 
person can have less reason to fear the fate of Swift.’ I said this 
to sound him, and to see what he thought of himself. His answer 
was: ‘I have lived in dread of insanity.’ That answer was the 
opening of a sealed book—revealed to me the source of much 
mental agony that I had seen him undergo. I did deem him in 
danger of the fate of Swift, and from the same cause as judged by 

his latest and greatest biographer, Sir Walter Scott. 

The question then arises, what was Van Buren’s motive in his 
enigmatic proposition to General Jackson about sending Randolph 
to Russia. Did he tell the whole truth when he set forth his rea- 
sons? It is difficult to believe it,— there was some hidden motive 
that was not disclosed. The proposition by Van Buren sprung from 
some hidden motive of his own. He evidently thought if Ran- 
dolph’s performance of the duties of Minister to Russia was success- 
ful, that he, Van Buren, would get credit for having suggested 
his name for that post; and that if he proved a failure as a 
diplomat, the responsibility would fall on General Jackson, which 
responsibility Van Buren knew General Jackson would assume, 
because he never dodged a responsibility; and that, in this way, a 
failure by Randolph would cast no reflection upon Van Buren for 
suggesting his name, and especially for suggesting it in the curious 
way that he presented it to General Jackson. 

Suppose, for a moment, that George Washington, Abraham 
Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, or other great 
Americans we might name, had recommended a John Randolph as 
Minister to Russia, how would the public have received the sugges- 


470 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


tion? Is it not unthinkable that any of the men named would 
suggest a John Randolph as Minister and at the same time pro- 
fess the warmest friendship for the President who was to make the 
appointment? What was Van Buren aiming at in attempting to 
foist on Jackson’s administration such an encumbrance? The 
appointment of Randolph is one of the wholly indefensible acts 
of Jackson’s administration. There is neither excuse or mitigation 
for the appointment, to say nothing of a defense. We must conclude 
that there was something behind the appointment that Van Buren 
does not disclose, and that his recommendation was to all intents 
and purposes, treason to Jackson’s fame. His recommendation 
becomes all the more unworthy when we consider his intimacy 
with General Jackson, and that he knew he had more influence 
with Jackson than any person in America at that time. 


As early as December 1829 Jackson had declared in a letter to 
Judge Overton of Tennessee in favor of Van Buren as his successor 
and had given this opinion of him: 


“T have found him everything that I could desire him to be, 
and believe him not only deserving my confidence, but the con- 
fidence of the nation. Instead of his being selfish and intriguing, 
as has been represented by some of his opponents, I have ever 
found him frank, open, candid, and manly. As a counselor, he is 
able and prudent, republican in his principles, and one of the most 
pleasant men to do business with Iever knew. He, my dear friend, 
is well qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the people, 
who in him will find a true friend and safe depositary of their 
rights and rights and liberty. I wish I could say as much for 

’ Mr. Calhoun and some of his friends.”’ 


IN CHAPTER 20 OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY MR. VAN BUREN TELLS 
OF HIS APPOINTMENT AS SECRETARY OF STATE BY JACKSON 
AND OF HIS GOING TO WASHINGTON TO ACCEPT THE PO- 
SITION. WE QUOTE SOME INTERESTING EXTRACTS. 


“T received a letter from General Jackson, soon after his arrival 
at Washington, offering me the place of Secretary of State of the 
United States—a wholly unsolicited step. I had expressed no 
desire to receive that or any other appointment at his hands, 
either to him or to any other person and I have every reason to 


believe that no advances to that end were ever made on the part: 


of my personal friends. He said in a published letter: “I called 
him (Mr. V. B.) to the Department of State influenced by the 
general wish and expectation of the republican party throughout 
the Union.” This position, like every other office or nomination 
save one, bestowed upon me in the course of my long public life, 


— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 471 


came to me without interference on my part, direct or indirect, 
and in the execution of the well understood wish of the great ane ON: 
ity of the political party of which Iwasa member. * * * 

“A solitary lamp in the vestibule and a single candle in the Pres- 
ident’s office gave no promise of the cordiality with which I was, 
notwithstanding, greeted by General Jackson on my visit to the 
White House. I found no one with him except his intimate friend 
Major Lewis. His health was poor, and his spirits depressed as 
well by his recent bereavement of his wife as by the trials of per- 
sonal and political friendship which he had been obliged to en- 
counter in the organization of his Cabinet. This was our first 
meeting as political friends and it was certainly a peculiar feature 
in that interview and no insignificant illustration of his nature that 
he received with most affectionate eagerness, at the very threshold 
of his administration, the individual destined to occupy the first 
place in his confidence, of whose character his only opportunities 
to learn anything by personal observation had been presented 
during periods of active political hostility. 

“He soon noticed my exhaustion from sickness and travel and, 
considerately postponing all business to an appointed hour of the 
next day, recommended me to my bed. 

“From that night to the day of his death the relations, some- 
times official, always political and personal, were inviolably main- 
tained between that noble old man and myself, the cordial and con- 
fidential character of which can never have been surpassed among 
public men. The history of those associations I propose to relate 
and to accompany it with an unreserved publication of our entire 
correspondence. But before entering upon this work it may be use- 
ful that I should give a succinct account of our personal and politi- 
cal intercourse from the commencement of our acquaintance to the 
time of his elevation to the Presidency. 

“T was presented to General Jackson for the first time, at Wash- 
ington in the winter of 1815-16, whilst on a visit to that city, to 
which place he had been called by the exciting contest that grew 
out of his Seminole campaign. Partaking of the extraordinary 
interest which he inspired wherever he went I sought an intro- 
duction to him at the very moment of his departure for Tennesse, 
and did not see him again until I met him, in 1823, on the floor of 
the Senate of the United tates, a which body he had become a 
member. $ 

“He made th appearanice in oh ee in the double character 
of one of the Senators from Tennessee and her candidate for the 
office of President of the United States, and among those who 
opposed his election to the latter place there was scarcely one more 
actively and zealously employed than myself; an opposition which 
extended alike to Mr. Adams and to himself and which was neither 
relaxed nor intermitted until the final settlement of the question by 
the House of Representatives. But these differences did not pro- 
duce the slightest trace of ill blood between us. Our personal in- 


472 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


tercourse from the day we met in the Senate to the end of the 
severe Presidential canvass of 1824, was, on the contrary uniformly 
kind and courteous, altho’ circumstances occured which, unex- 
plained, were well calculated to put his self-control at least for the 
moment, to severe tests.”’ 


MR. VAN BUREN’S RESIGNATION AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 


Washington, April 11th, 1831. 


“Dear Sir:- 

“T feel it to be my duty to retire from the office to which your 
confidence and partiality called me. ‘The delicacy of this step 
under the circumstances in which it is taken, will, I trust, be deem- 
ed an ample apology for stating more at large, than might other- 
wise have been necessary, the reasons by which I am influenced. 

“From the moment of taking my seat in your Cabinet, it has 
been my anxious wish and zealous endeavor to prevent a premature 
agitation of the question of your successor; and, at all events, to 
discountenance, and if possible repress the disposition at an 
early day manifested, to connect my name with that disturbing 
topic. Of the sincerity and the constancy of this disposition, no 
one has had a better opportunity to judge than yourself. It has, 
however, been unavailing. Circumstances, not of my creation, 
and altogether beyond my control, have given this subject a 
turn which cannot now be remedied, except by a self-disfranchise- 
ment which, even if dictated by my individual wishes, could hardly 
be reconcilable with propriety or self-respect.” 

“Concerning the injurious effects which the circumstance of a 
member of the Cabinet’s occupying the relation towards the 
country to which I have adverted, is calculated to have upon the 
conduct of public affairs, there cannot, I think, at this time, be 
room for two opinions. Diversities of ulterior preference among 
the friends of an Administration are unavoidable; and even if the 
advocates of those thus placed in rivalship be patriotic enough to 
resist the temptation of creating obstacles to the advancement of 
him to whose elevation they are opposed, by embarrassing the 

- branch of public service committed to his charge, they are, never- 
theless, by their position, exposed to the suspicion of entertaining 
and encouraging such views; a suspicion which can seldom fail 
in the end, to aggravate into present alienation and hostility the 
prospective differences which first gave rise to it. This, under the 
least unfavorable consequences, individual injustice is suffered, 
and the Administration embarrassed and weakened. Whatever 
may have been the course of things under peculiar circumstances 
of the earlier stage of the Republic, my experience has fully sat- 
isfied me that, at this day, when the field of selection has become 
so extended, the circumstance referred to by augmenting the 
motives and sources of opposition to the measures of the executive, 
must unavoidably prove the cause of injury to the public service, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 473 


for a counterpoise to which we may in vain look to the peculiar 
qualifications of any individual; and even if I should in this be 
mistaken, still I cannot so far deceive myself as to believe for a 
moment that I am included in the exceptions.” 


“These obstructions to the successful prosecution of public 
affairs, when superadded to that opposition which is inseparable 
from our free institutions and which every administration must 
expect, present a mass to which the operations of the government 
should at no time be voluntarily exposed:— the more expecially 
should this be avoided at so eventful a period in the affairs of the 
world, when our country may particularly need the utmost har- 
mony in her councils.” 

“Such being my impressions, the path of duty is plain: I 
not only submit with cheerfulness to whatever personal sacrifices 
may be involved in the surrender of the station I occupy, but I 
make it my ambition to set an example which, should it in the 
progress of the Government be deemed, notwithstanding the 
humility of its origin, worthy of respect and observance, cannot, 
I think, fail to prove essentially and permanently beneficial. 


“Allow, me, Sir, to present one more view of the subject:— 
You have consented to stand before your constituents for reé- 
election. Of their decision, resting as it does upon the unbought 
suffrage of a free, numerous, and widely extended people, it be- 
comes no man to speak with certainty. Judging, however, from 
the past, and making a reasonable allowance for the fair exercise of 
the intelligence and public spirit of your fellow citizens, I cannot 
hesitate in adopting the belief that the confidence, as well in your 
capacity for civil duties as in your civic virtues already so spon- 
taneously and strikingly displayed, will be manifested with in- 
creased energy, now, that all candid observers must admit their 
utmost expectations to have been more than realized.” 


“Tf this promise, so auspicious to the best interests of our com- 
mon country, be fulfilled, the concluding term of your admin- 
istration will, in the absence of any prominent cause of discord 
among its supporters, afford a most favorable opportunity for the 
full accomplishment of those important public objects, in the 
prosecution of which I have witnessed on your part such a steady 
vigilance and untiring devotion. To the unfavorable influence 
which my continuance in your Cabinet, under existing circum- 
stances, may exercise upon this flattering prospect, I cannot, Sir, 
without a total disregard of the lights of experience, and without 
shutting my eyes to the obvious tendency of things for the future, 
be insensible. Having, moreover, from a deep conviction of its 
importance to the country, been among the most urgent advisers 

‘ to yield yourself to the obvious wishes of the People, and knowing 
the sacrifice of personal feeling which was involved in your ac- 
quiescence I cannot reconcile it to myself to be in any degree the 
cause of embarrassment to you during the period which, as it cer- 


474 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


tainly will be of deep interest to your country, is moreover destined 
to bring to its close, your patriotic, toilsome and eventful public 
life.”’ 

“From these considerations, I feel it to be doubly my duty to 
resign a post, the retention of which is so calculated to attr act 
assaults upon your administration, to which there might otZer- 
wise be no inducement—assaults of which, whatever be their aim, 
the most important as well as most injurious effect is, upon those 
public interests which deserve and should command the support 
of all good citizens. This duty, I should have discharged at an 
earlier period, but for considerations, partly of a public, partly of a 
personal nature, connected with circumstances which were cal- 
culated to expose its performance then to misconstruction and mis- 
representation.” 

“Having explained the motives which govern me in thus sever- 
ing, and with seeming abruptness, the official ties by which we 
have been associated, there remains but one duty to perform. 
I make my profound and sincere acknowledgments for that steady 
support and cheering confidence which, in the discharge of my 
public duties, I have under all circumstances, received at your 
hands; as well as for the personal kindness at all times extended to 
me. 

“Rest assured, Sir, that the success of your administration, and 
the happiness of your private life will ever constitute objects of 
the deepest solicitude with 

“Your sincere friend and obed’t servant,” 


“M. VAN BUREN. 
“The President. 


JACKSON’S ACCEPTANCE. 


“Washington, April 12, 1831. 


“Your letter resigning the office of Secretary of State was re 
ceived last evening. I could indeed wish that no circumstance had 
arisen to interrupt the relations which have, for two years, subsisted 
between us, and that they might have continued through the 
period during which it may be my lot to remain charged with the 
duties which the partiality of my countrymen has imposed upon 
me. But the reasons you present are so strong that, with a proper 
regard for them, I cannot ask you, on my own account, to re- 
main in the Cabinet.” 

“T am aware of the difficulties you have had to contend with, 
and of the benefits which have resulted to the affairs of your 
country, from your continued zeal in the arduous tasks to which 
you have been subjected. To say that I deeply regret to lose you, 
is but feebly to express my feelings on this occasion.”’ 

“When called by my country to the station which I occupy, 
it was not without a deep sense of its arduous responsibility, and a 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 475 


strong distrust of myself, that I obeyed the call; but, cheered by 
the consciousness that no other motive actuated me, than a desire 
to guard her interest, and to place her upon the firm ground of 
those great principles which by the wisest and purest of our pa- 
triots, have been deemed essential to her prosperity, I ventured 
upon the trust assigned me. I did this in the confident hope of 
finding the support of advisers, able and true; who, laying aside 
every thing but a desire to give new vigor to the vital principles of 
our Union, would look with a single eye to the best means of effect- 
ing this paramount object. In you, this hope has been realized 
to the utmost. In the most difficult and trying moments of my 
administration, I have always found you sincere, able and efficient— 
anxious at all times to afford me every aid. Ii, however, from 
circumstances in your judgment sufficient to make it necessary, 
the official ties subsisting between us must be severed, I can only 
say that this necessity is deeply lamented by me. I part with you 
only because you yourself have requested me to do so,-and have 

sustained that request by reasons strong enough to command my 
assent. I cannot, however, allow the separation to take place with- 
out expressing the hope, that this retirement from public affairs is 
but temporary; and that if in any other station, the government 
should have occasion for services, the value of which has been so 
sensibly felt by me, your consent will not be wanting.” 


“Of the state of things to which you advert, I cannot but be 
fully aware. I look upon it with sorrow, and regret it the more, 
because one of its first effects is to disturb the harmony of my 
Cabinet. It is, however, but an instance of one of the evils to which 
free governments must ever be liable. The only remedy for these 
evils, as they arise, lies in the intelligence and public spirit of our 
common constituents; they will correct them—and in this there is 
abundant consolation. I cannot quit this subject without adding 
that with the best opportunities for observing and judging, I have 
seen in you no other desire than to move quietly on in the path of 
your duties, and to promote the harmonious conduct of public 
affairs. If on this point you have had to encounter detraction, it 
is but another proof of the utter insufficiency of innocence and 
worth to shield from such assaults.” ; 


“Be assured that the interest you express in my happiness is 
most heartily reciprocated—that my most cordial feelings ac- 
company you, and that I am, very sincerely, your friend,”’ 

“ANDREW JACKSON.” 
“P.S. It is understood that you are to continue in office until 
your successor is appointed. 


Martin Van Buren, 
: Secretary of State.” 


476 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


VAN BUREN’S REJECTION BY THE SENATE. 


Mr. Van Buren frankly says, page 508 of his Autobiography, 
that when he agreed to accept the English Mission, he expressed to 
General Jackson the opinion that such a step could not be regarded 
in any other light than that of a relinquishment of any chance to 
succeed him in the Presidency, and that he inferred from the Pres- 
ident’s silence that he looked at it in the same way. But evidently 
Jackson changed his mind because on September Sth, 1831, within 
eight weeks after Van Buren had relinquished the position of 
Secretary of State, Jackson wrote him: 


“JACKSON TO VAN BUREN.” 


“Notwithstanding the high opinion I entertain of the talents 
and worth of my present Cabinet and the confidence I have in 
them, still there appears a vacancy in your absence and our. 
faithful Eaton, that is not filled. Mr. MclLane’s mind is a host 
to me and with him and Barry, in whom I know I can under any 
circumstances confide, with the goodness and amiability and 
high talents of the others, I have no doubt we shall steer the 
national vessel into a safe port. Still I cannot but regret your 
absence. We have been so fortunate with our foreign relations 
hitherto that I would regret that any faux-pas should occur 
hereafter. I cannot close without again repeating that I hope 
circumstances will occur to enable me to return to the Hermitage 
in due season and set an example worthy to be followed and give 
an evidence to my country that I never had any other ambition 
than that of serving my country when she required it, and when 
I know it could be better served by others, to open the door for 
their employment; you will understand me.” 

But Van Buren was to return to America and shortly to become 
a successful candidate for Vice-President, and start on the road 
to the presidency which he thought he had abandoned when he 
became Minister to England. ‘The cause of this change in his 
fortunes, he at one time did not fore-see as a certainty, but it did 
not take many months to develope. The influence that was to 
make him finally president of the United States was the refusal 
by the Senate to confirm his nomination as English Minister. 

On December 17th., 1831, Jackson wrote to him:- 


“JACKSON TO VAN BUREN.” 


“T cannot close, altho’ it is now late, without naming to you~ 
confidentially a subject which is constantly on my mind; it is 
this:—If I am reelected and you are not called to the Vice Pres- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History . 477 


idency I wish you to return to this country in two years from now, 
if it comports with your views and wishes. I think your pre- 
sence here about that time will be necessary. The opposition 
would, if they durst, try to reject your nomination as Minister, 
but they dare not, they begin to know if they did that the people 
in mass would take you up and elect you Vice-President without 
a nomination. Was it not for this, it is said Clay, Calhoun & Co., 
would try it. 

“You know Mr. Livingston is anxious to go abroad and I am 
as anxious to have you near me, and: it would afford me pleasure 
poenaiiy oth, !) FF * F * 

“TI would not be surprised, A contrary to your declared 
wishes, you should be run for Vice-President; as sure as the 
Senate make the attempt to reject your nomination, I am told 
it will be done. This will bring you back in twelve months. 
Tf not, then I wish, if reelected, to bring you back as intimated.” 

These two letters of Jackson are quoted by Van Buren in his 
Autobiography. In order that the reader may keep track of the 
dates connected with his rejection by the Senate, it should be said 
that he was appointed Minister to England August Ist., 1831, by 
General Jackson during a recess of the Senate when he could not 
be confirmed. He was rejected for confirmation by the Senate 
January 25th., 1832. He left London for Holland on a visit April 
Ist., 1832, and sailed then for New York, arriving here July Sth., 
1832. He was nominated for Vice-President May 2l1st., 1832. 

The rejection by the Senate cleared the field of ali obstacles 
for political preferment for Mr. Van Buren. ‘That the party ought 
to nominate him for Vice-President and that he was bound to 
accept were points declared by General Jackson and he avowed 
them on all suitable occasions. 

Van Buren first received intimation that he had been rejected 
by the Senate from a letter of his friend C. C. Cambreling, a mem- 
ber of Congress from the City of New York, who wrote him in 
London— 


“CAMBRELING TO VAN BUREN.” 


Washington, 27 Jan’y. 1832. 


“My Dear Friend :- 

I most sincerely congratulate you on your rejection by the 
Senate—23 to 23 and by the casting vote of the Vice-President; 
Tazewell and Tyler voting for you and Hendricks of Indiana, 
Hayne, Miller, Poindexter and Moore, of Alabama, against you, 
Bibb and Prentiss not present, both I presume consulting their 
own inclinations. 


478 . ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“T consider this as a providential interposition in your favor. 
A more reckless act was never committed by men in their senses 
—indeed, altho’ I had ardently desired it, I could not persuade 
myself to believe that their passions would drive them into a 

_ measure, the inevitable result of which might have been seen by 
a school boy. You may imagine how admirably they were drilled 
when Ruggles, Tomlinson, Johnson, Seymour and Robbins 
voted against you. The votes were precisely as they should have 
been, we could not have had them better. Poor Hayne had laid 
himself on the grave of Calhoun, and Webster and Clay die in 
each other’s arms. The former conducted his opposition with 
dignity, the latter with something of violence; the abuse came 
from Miller, of South Carolina, one of Calhoun’s barkers; but 
the thing is admirable, you will be our Vice-President in spite 
of yourself, and you will ride over your adversaries, or rather you 
will drag them after you a 1’ Achille. In the midnight of the 
Senate they have done the deed—but ‘“‘Birnam wood will come”’ 
SLE ere. 

“Come back as quck as you can, we have no triumphal arches 
as in ancient Rome, but we'll give you as warm a reception as 
ever Conqueror had. 

Sincerely your friend, 


C. C. Cambreling.” 


On page 509 of the Autobiography, Mr. Van Buren sets out 
his conclusion to become a candidate for Vice-President after 
his rejection by the Senate and says— 


“The proposal of my friends that I should consent to run 
for the office of Vice-President being wholly disconnected. from 
the suggestions of the President in respect to his ulterior views, 
I felt myself in a situation, after the treatment I had received to 
accept of the nomination consistently with the principles upon 
which I had acted, and concurred moreover in the opinion ex- 
pressed by the President that I was, under the circumstances, 
bound to do so if it should be presented to me.”’ 


Entertaining such views on the subject, he sent the following 
answer to Mr. Marcy’s letter:— 


“London, March 14th., 1832. 


“My Dear Sir:- 

I have received your kind letter announcing the desire which 
has been manifested that I should be a candidate for the Vice- 
Presidency, and suggesting the propriety of an expression of 
my feeling on the subject to some one of my friends in Wash- 
ington. 

“Of the strong aversion which I have uniformly entertained 


! 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 479 


to this measure you, as well as many others, were fully informed 
before I left the United States. My private feelings on the sub- 
ject are unchanged. I cannot regard the possession of that post 

_as in any wise likely to promote my happiness or welfare. But 
whatever may be my individual repugnance, I cannot but feel 
the justice of the opinion, expressed as it appears, by a large 
portion of my Fellow Citizens, that recent events have materially 
changed the condition of the question. The President in the 
recess of Congress had nominated me to a foreign and im- 
portant trust; I had left my native land, and entered, among 
strangers, upon the conspicuous functions of that trust; a ma- 
jority of the Senate have rejected the nomination of the Execu- 
tive, and publicly divested me of my employ when I was ex- 
ecuting it in the presence of Europe and America. In so doing 
they have sought to bring discredit upon the act of the Pres- 
ident and to disgrace me personally in the eyes, not merely of my 
Fellow Citizens, but of foreign nations. If the Republicans of 
the United States think my elevation to the Vice-Presidency the 
most effectual mode of testifying to the world their sentiments 
with respect to the act of the President and the vote of the 
Senate, I can see no justifiable ground for declining to yield to 
their wishes. 

“Should a knowledge of this acquiescence on my part be 
deemed absolutely necessary to the harmonious operation of 
our friends, you are at liberty to state it; but not otherwise. 

“I would sedulously avoid any act or agency that might 
appear calculated or designed to bring about the result referred 
to. My paramount desire is that my future fate be left to the 
unbiased decision of the people. 

“Overwhelmed as I am with the generous sympathy man- 
ifested by my countrymen, I hope and trust, I shall not be 
thought to meet their confiding frankness with fastidious re- 
serve. There is a degree of reserve forced upon me, however, 
by the nature of the question, by the peculiarly delicate situa- 
tion in which I have been placed in regard to it, and by the 
wanton and persevering mis-representations of the whole sub- 
ject with which the public ear has been abused. 

“Tam Dr. Sir, 
Very truly yours, 
“Wm. L. Marcy, Esq. MEV BS? 


INAUGURAL TRIBUTE TO JACKSON. 


The concluding part of Mr. Van Buren’s inaugural address 
included a handsome tribute to General Jackson: 

“Tn approaching then in the presence of my assembled country- 
men to make the solemn promise that yet remains and to pledge 
myself that I will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, 
I bring with me a settled purpose to maintain the institutions of 
my country, which I trust will atone the errors I commit.” 


480 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HisToRY 


“In receiving ftom the people the sacred trust twice confided to 
my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faith- 
fully and so well, I know that J cannot expect to perform the 
arduous task with equal ability and success. But united as I have 
been in his councils, a daily witness of his exclusive and unsur- 
passed devotion to his Country’s welfare, agreeing with him in 
sentiments which his countrymen have warmly supported and 
permitted to partake largely of his confidence, I may hope that 
somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be found to attend 
upon my path. For him I but express with my own the wishes of 
all, that he may yet long live to enjoy the brilliant evening of his 
well spent life; and for myself, conscious of but one desire, faith- 
fully to serve my Country, I throw myself without fear on its 
justice and its kindness. Beyond that, I only look to the gracious 
protection of the Divine Being, whose strengthening support I 
humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us 
all. May it be among the dispensation of His Providence to bless 
our beloved Country with honors and with length of days. May 
her ways be ways of pleasantness and all her paths be peace. 


EDWARD M. SHEPARDS SUMMARY. 


Edward M. Shepard, in his life of Van Buren, summarizes the 
political principles of Van Buren and his associates: 


“However widely the student of history may differ from the 
politics of Van Buren’s associates, the politics of Benton, Wright, 
Butler, and Dix, and in a later rank of his New York disciples of 
Samuel J. Tilden and Sanford E. Church, it is impossible not to 


see that their political purpose was at the least as long and steady ~ 


as their friendship for Van Buren. Love for the Union, a belief in 
a simple, ecohomical, and even unheroic government, a jealousy 
of taking money from the people, and a scrupulous restriction 
upon the use of public moneys for any but public purposes, a 
strict limitation of federal powers, a dislike of slavery and an 
opposition to its extension,—these made up one of the great and 
fruitful political creeds of America, a creed which had ardent and 
hopeful apostles of half century ago, and which save in the arti- 
cles which touched slavery and are now happily obsolete, will 
doubtless find apostles no less ardent and hopeful a half century 
hence. Each of its assertions has been found in other creeds; but 
the entire creed with all its articles made the peculiar and powerful 
faith only of the Van Buren men. ‘ As history gradually sets repu- 
tations aright, the leader of these men must justly wear the laurel 
of a statesman who, apart from his personal and. party relations 
and ambitions, has stood clearly for a powerful and largely tri- 
umphant cause.” 

“No vague, no thoughtless rush of popular sentiment touched 
or shook this faith of Van Buren. Had there been indeed a read- 
ier emphasis about him, a heartier and quicker sympathy with the 


= 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 481 


temper of the day, he would: perhaps have aroused a popular en- 


thusiasm, he might perhaps have been the hero which in fact he 
never was. But his intellectual perceptions did not permit the 
subtile self-deceit, the enthusiastic surrender to current sentiment, 
to which the striking figures that delight the masses of men are so 
apt to yield. Van Buren was steadiast from the beginning to the 
end, save when the war threats of slavery alarmed his old age and 
the sober second thought of a really patient and resolute people 
seemed a long time coming.” 

Mr. Shepard gives Mr. Van Buren credit for political and moral 
courage, which all the American people during his lifetime and 
since have not given him, but which estimate of Mr. Shepard is 
largely justified; especially Van Buren’s frankness with which he 
faced the crisis of 1837, when he wrote the famous letter on the 
annexation of Texas. This is Mr. Shepard’s estimate. 

“Chief among the elements of Van Buren’s public character 
ought to be ranked his moral courage and the explicitness of his 
political utterances,—the two qualities which, curiously enough, 
Were most angrily denied him by his enemies. His well-known 
Shocco Springs letter of 1832 on the tariff was indeed lacking in 
these qualities; but he was then not chiefly interested. There was 
only a secondary responsibility upon him. But it is not too much 
to say that no American in responsible and public station, since 
the days when Washington returned from his walk among the mis- 
erable huts of Valley Forge to write to the Continental Congress, 


_ or to face the petty imbecilities of the jealous colonists, has shown 


so complete a political courage as that with which Van Buren 
faced the crisis of 1837, or in which he wrote his famous Texas 
letter. Nor did any American, stirred with ambition, conscious of 
great powers, as was this captain of politicians, and bringing all 
his political fortunes, as he must do, to the risks of universal suff- 
Tage. ever meet living issues dangerously dividing men ready to 
vote for him if he would but remain quiet, with clearer or more 
decided answers than did Van Buren in his Sherrod Williams letter 
of 1836 and in most of his chief public utterances from that year 
until 1844. The courtesies of his manner, his failure in trenchant 
brevity, and even the almost complete absence of invective or ex- 
travagance from his papers or speeches, have obscured these 
capital virtues of his character. ‘He saw too many dangers; and he 
sometimes made it too clear that he saw them. But upon legiti- 
mate issues he was among the least timid and the most explicit of 
great Americans. No President of ours has in office been more 
direct.” 


THE CHARGE OF INTRIGUE AGAINST VAN BUREN. 

Mr. Van Buren was never able to divest public opinion of the 
charge of intrigue so generally made against him and so widely 
believed. We are not surprised, therefore, that in his Autobiog- 
raphy he refers to this charge and attempts to make defense 

31 


482 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


against it and to clear it up. This, he is thoroughly justified in 
doing in his own interest, and from his own standpoint. His 
Autobiography was written to present him in such colors as he 
desired to be viewed by posterity, and he produces a speech made 
by Mr. Forsyth who was, at one time Governor of Georgia and 
United States Senator, made in the United States Senate. Sen- 
ator Forsyth was a strong friend of Van Buren’s. 


MR. VAN BUREN SAYS ON PAGE 539 


“But the subject of the rejection of my nomination has spun 
itself out to a far greater length than will I fear be deemed ex- 
cusable. Still I cannot dismiss it without a word of acknowledg- 
ment of the fearlessness, promptitude and warm eloguence with 
which my personal character and official conduct were defended in 
the Senate by friends: especially is the acknowledgment due to the 
memory of my lamented friend Forsyth—from whose speech on the 
occasion, I make the following extract, the encomiastic tone of 
which, altho’ he was one of those noblemen who would not flatter 
the gods for their power, is certainly raised far above my deserts 
or pretensions by the chivalric zeal of the speaker in the cause of 
an absent friend, but upon which I may be pardoned for placing 
the highest value because it grapples boldly with a charge perhaps 
more fanatically urged against me than against any other public 
man in the country—of course in my estimation without any jus- 
tice—I mean the vague imputation of a capacity and a disposition 
for political intrigue.” 


SENATOR FORSYTH’S ADDRESS IN THE SENATE. 


“But this England was not sought by Mr. Van Buren; his 
friends know that it was pressed on him by the President; and that 
it was reluctantly accepted at the earnest solicitations of friends 
who were satisfied it would promote his own reputation, and re- 
dound to the honor and welfare of the nation. I will not follow, 
further, the Senator’s lead. Long known to me as a politician and 
as a man, acting together in the hour of political adversity, when 
we had lost all but our honor—a witness of his movements when 
elevated to power, and in the possession of the confidence of the 
Chief Magistrate, and of the great majority of the people, I have 
never witnessed aught in Mr. Van Buren which requires conceal- 
ment, palliation, or coloring—never anything to lessen his character 
as a patriot and as a man—nothing which he might not desire to 
see exposed to the scrutiny of every member of this body with the 
calm confidence of unsullied integrity. He is called an artful man— 
a giant of artifice—a wily magician. From whom does he receive 
these opprobrious names? From open enemies and pretended 
friends. In the midst of all the charges that have been brought 
against him, in shapes more varying than those of Proteus, and 
thick as the autumnal leaves that strew the vale of Vallambrosa, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 483 


where is the false friend or maligant enemy that has fixed upon him 
one dishonorable or degrading act? If innocent of artifice, if gov- 
erned by a high sense of honor, and regulating his conduct by ele- 
vated principles, this is not wonderful, but if the result of skill, 
of the Ars celare artem, he must be more cunning than the devil 
himself to have thus avoided the snares of enemies and the treach- 
ery of pretended friends. 

“Tt is not possible, Sir, that he should have escaped, had he 
been otherwise than pure. Those ignorant of his unrivalled know- 
ledge of human character, his power of penetrating into the de- 
signs and defeating the purposes of his adversaries, seeing his 
tapid advance to public honors and popular confidence., impute 
to art what is a natural result of those simple causes. Extra- 
ordinary talent, untiring industry, incessant vigilance. the happiest 
temper, which success cannot corrupt nor disappointment sour; 
these are the sources of his unexampled success, the magic arts— 
the artifices of intrigue, to which only he has restored in his event- 
ful life. Those who envy his success may learn wisdom from his 
example.” ‘Debate in Executive Session January 24-25, 1832. 


Turning for the moment from some unpleasant incidents in 
Mr. Van Buren’s career, we hail with pleasure an exhibition of 
high courtesy to General Jackson in his Executive Order that the 
Surgeon General of the Army accompany the General on his way 
to the Hermitage when he went home at the end of his presidential 
term in bad health. Follows the full text of the order. 


“HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, 
Adjutant-General’s Office. 
*‘Washington, March 7, 1837. 


““GENERAL ORDER NO. 6.” 


“TJ. The Major-General Commanding in Chief has received from 
the War Department the following order:” 


“Washington, March 6, 1837.” 


“General Andrew Jackson, ex-President of the United States, 
being about to depart from this city for his home in Tennessee, 
and the state of his health rendering it important that he should be 
accompanied by a medical attendant, the President directs that 
the Surgeon-General of the Army accompany the ex-President to 
Wheeling, in the State of Virginia, there to be relieved, in case the 
ex-President’s health shall be such as to allow it, by some officer of 
the Medical Department, who will attend the ex-President from 
that place to his residence. 

In giving this order the President feels assured that this mark 
of attention to the venerable soldier, patriot, and statesman now 


484 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


retiring in infirm health from the cares of office to the repose of 
private life will be as grateful to the feelings of the American people 
as it appears to the President to be suitable in itself. 
“M. VAN BUREN.” 
“The Major-General Commanding in Chief will carry into 
effect the foregoing directions of the President of the United 
States.” 
“B. ¥. ‘BUDE. | 
“Secretary of War, ad interim.” 
“TI. Pursuant to the above order, Surgeon-General Lawson will 
immediately join the ex-President, and will accompany him as his 
medical attendant to Wheeling, in the State of Virginia, and, at 


his discretion, to the residence of the ex-President, at the Her- 
mitage, near Nashville, in the State of Tennessee.” 


“TIT. Assistant Surgeon Reynolds will join the ex-President at 
Wheeling, Va., and from that place, either alone or in conjunction 
with the Surgeon-General, as the latter may direct, will proceed 
with the ex-President to his residence in Tennessee.” 


“TV. The officers above named, on the conclusion of the duties 
above assigned to them, will repair to their respective stations.” 
“By order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Command- 
ing in Chief:” 
“R. Jones, Adjutant-General.” 


VAN BUREN AND TEXAS. 


Martin Van Buren’s fame would reach further and be trumpet- 
ed stronger and louder if he had died as soon as the Democratic 
Convention of 1844 was over and he had been defeated for re- 
nomination for the Presidency by James K. Polk. 

In the Democratic Convention, at Baltimore, held in May, 
1844, is one of the times in his life he looms large and great as a 
fearless champion of his conviction that cost him the Presidency 
and his political life; viz., that Texas should not be admitted to 
the Union. This was the crucial question in the Convention, and 
he could have had the nomination by agreeing that Texas should 
come in; but without hesitancy he refused to agree, adhered to his 
convictions and Polk was nominated. 

He wanted the nomination more than he ever sought an office 
before, and it was his by the turn of his hand; but Van Buren was 
opposed on principle to slavery. The annexation of Texas meant 
the extension of slavery to four more slave states to be carved out 
of Texas. The South was for slavery and dominated the Con- 


vention and demanded annexation without delay. General Jack- 


son wrote a letter, favoring annexation, and this letter was dis- 


! 
| 


a.) 


— ee ee SS 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY ‘TENNESSEE History 485 


tributed everywhere, and still Van Buren did not yield. He laid 
aside all the shifty methods his enemies had been charging him 
with using, and stood with the firmness, self respect, and courage 
of a statesman, actuated by the principles of a lifetime. 

Then was the time for Van Buren to die, and then was the time 
he proved to all the world that he could rigidly act upon con- 
viction and principle, and that history must credit him, this time 
at least with being something above the mere politician his con- 
temporaries charged him with being. In the letter he wrote at the 
time, he expressed himself, 

“Nor can I in any extremity be induced to 
cast a shade over the motive of my past 
life, by changes or concealment of opinions, 
maturely formed upon a great National 


question, for the unworthy purpose of in- 
creasing my chances for political promotion.” 


In 1848 Mr. Van Buren accepted from the Free Soil party the 
nomination for President on a ticket with Charles Francis Adams 
for Vice President. Slavery was the one issue with the Free Soil 
party, and slavery was the question which when it was a dominat- 
ing issue in politics that Van Buren never wavered or trimmed. 
Whatever may have been his motives on other questions, and how- 
ever much diplomacy and policy, good or bad, he may have used, 
on the question of slavery, he never betrayed his convictions. 

After 1848, when by compromise it was thought the question 
of slavery had been for a period at least postponed, Mr. Van Buren 
voted for Franklin Pierce for President in 1852 and for James 
Buchanan for President in 1856. He was a Democrat through and 
through, consistent, loyal, outspoken, and unwavering, except 
where slavery was the dominating issue, and he was then against 
slavery. 

He was born December 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862 when the 
artillery of the Civil War was roaring over the land, and when the 
fortunes of the Union Armies were at their lowest ebb. 

One great act often redeems a hundred petty failings in the 
life and career of a human being, and so it was with Van Buren 
He refused to betray his convictions on the subject of Texas and 
slavery, even though his agreeing that Texas might come into the 
Union at once would have secured for him the Democratic nom- 
ination and the Presidency. It has come to few men in politics, 


486 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE HISTORY 


either in America or the world, to be able to say as Van Buren could 
truthfully say, that he gave away an American Presidency for his 
honor and convictions. 


“GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 89. 


‘ “WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant-General’s Office, 
Washington, July 25, 1862. 


“The following order of the President of the United States 
communicates the information of the death of ex-President Martin 
Van Buren: 


“Washington, July 25, 1862. 
‘The President with deep regret announces to the people of the 
United States the decease, at Kinderhook, N. Y., on the 24th 
instant, of his honored predecessor Martin Van Buren. 


“This event will occasion mourning in the nation for the loss 
of a citizen and a public servant whose memory will be gratefully 
cherished. Although it has occurred at a time when his country is 
afflicted with division and civil war, the grief of his patriotic friends 
will measurably be assuaged by the consciousness that while 
suffering with disease and seeing his end approaching his prayers 
were for the restoration of the authority of the Government of 
which he had been the head and for peace and good will among 
his fellow-citizens. 

“As a mark of respect for his memory, it is ordered that the 
Executive Mansion and the several Executive Departments, ex- 
cept those of War and of the Navy, be immediately placed in 
mourning and all business be suspended during tomorrow. 

“It is further ordered that the War and Navy Departments 
cause suitable military and naval honors to be paid on this occasion 
to the memory of the illustrious dead. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 


II. “On the day after the receipt of this order the troops will 
be paraded at 10 o’clock a. m. and the order read to them. The 
national flag will be displayed at half-staff. At dawn of day thir- 
teen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes 
between rising and setting sun a single gun, and at the close of the 
day a national salute of thirty-four guns. The officers of the Army 
will wear crape on the left arm and on their swaords and the colors 
of the several regiments will be put in mourning for the period of 
six months. 

By order of the Secretary of War. 
“L,. THOMAS, 


“‘Adjutant-General. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 487 
“GENERAL ORDER. 


“Navy Department, July 25, 1862. 


“The death of ex-President Martin Van Buren is announced in 
following order of the President of the United States: 

“As a mark of respect for his memory,*it is ordered that the 
Executive Mansion and the several Executive ,} Departments, ex- 
cept those of War and of the Navy, be immediately placed in 
mourning and all business be suspended during tomorrow, 

“Tt is further ordered that the War and Navy Departments 
cause suitable military and naval honers to be paid on this occa- 
sian to the memory of the illustrious dead. 


“Tn pursuance of the foregoing order, it is hereby directed that 
thirty minutes guns, commencing at noon, be fired on the day 
after the receipt of this general order at the navy-yards, naval 
stations, and on board the vessels of the Navy in commission; 
that their flags be displayed at half-mast for one week, and that 
crape be worn on the left arm by all officers of the Navy for a period 
of six months. 


“GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. 


oA Pe A 
Moh 


488 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


TST 
a CHAPTER 19. 


Letters to and from Martin Van Buren and now 
in the Congressional Library in Washington. 


afer] eee eee] eee ee ase es] es] es] ee ey 
JACKSON TO VAN BUREN 


“Washington, July 11th, 1831. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T have to acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter of the 
21st ult. with Col. Moor’s letter enclosed, which was sent to me 
at the Rip Raps, from whence I returned on the 7th instant; and 
this moment I have rec’d your very interesting letter of the 
2nd instant which I have hastely read, and now give it a partial 
answer. 

“The first intimation I have had of the enemy attempting to 
hold out the idea that my confidence was lessened in you, was 
your letter just received. You are aware that I never read the 
papers that diffuse falshood, rather than truth, therefore the 
groundless rumor had never reached my ear. Since you left me, I 
have been visited by many at the Rip Raps; many from Richmond 
Va., and Norfolk came to see me.’ When your name was intro- 
duced, my opinion was frankly given, from which no one could 
believe my confidence was lessened in you. I have no doubt it 
would be pleasing to our enemies if they could circulate the report 
and obtaln belief in it, that our confidence in each other had been 
interrupted. I shall now take some pains (having heard of the 
wretched attempt, without seeming to do so) to show that my con- 


fidence has not been lessened, but increased. ' This will meet the — 


falshood, and have no injurious effect, but a good one in putting 
down the falsehood. It is fortunate that our enemies have lied 
so long that their untruths do good rather than harm. 

‘The disgraceful course of Mr. Ingham, has, and will forever 
prostrate him. Iam humbled when I reflect that a man who stood 
so high in good old Pennsylvania and was exalted to a seat in the 
Cabinet, has been so vindictive and destitute of common sense, 
as to adopt the degrading course he has, so disgraceful to himself 
and the nation. I trust you will see that the whole course I have 
adopted in this matter is calm and proper. You will see the mo- 
ment I found he was writing letters, and having them published 
before they reached me, I directed Mr. Trist to answer his last and 
thus closed the correspondence. When you read it you will find 
he has no regard to the truth of the facts, but wishes me to become 
a prosecutor in his stead, and hold forth to the world that I keep 
the clerks under duress from giving testimony. I refer you to the 
correspondence which you will find in the Globe. 


JOHN C. CALHOUN, 1782-1850. 


Vice President of the United States, March 4, 1825 to December 28, 1832. From National Portrait Gallery, 
1864. Member of Congress from South Carolina 1811-1817; Secretary of War 1817-1825; United States 
Senator 1832-1843; Secretary of State 1844-1845; United States Senator from South Carolina, 1845-1850. 


7. ‘ 
’ 
' 
' 
\ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 489 


“T have ordered the Potomac to be at New York on the first 
of August next, to take you to England in this ship, as a mark of 
my confidence; I wish you to sail but I am afraid it will not be in 
my power to meet youthere. We have letters of the 30th of May 
from Mr. McLane, at which date, he had not received our dis- 
patches asking him to come home and to accept of the Treasury 
Department made vacant by the resignation, or as Mr. Ingham 
would say, his dismissal. 

“Judge White has finally declined. Col. Drayton was then 
offered the War office, declined and Governor Cass appointed, 
who I suppose will accept. Taney has been appointed Attorney 
General. Mr. Berrien has resigned and acted well on the occasion. 
His first letter to Eaton was a deep, considered, diplomatic letter, 
but his last, frank and honourable. The contrast has sunk Ing- 
ham. Governor Branch, in his Parthian fight, has weakened 
himself In Carolina and it is supposed Bynam will beat him for 
Congress. He is sick but able, (as high authority says) to cir- 
culate secret slander against me. It will recoil upon himself, 
it has its antidote, if well used. 

“Major Eatons decorous and firm course has raised him in 
the estimation of the citizens here, and elsewhere, and prostrated 
Ingham. The citizens here, I am told, have offered him a dinner, 
whether he will accept it, I have not heard. Judge Overton is 
with me, goes to Philadelphia tomorrow, unless Major Eaton. 
accepts of the dinner, and as Major Barry goes with him, may be 
detained a day or two; he sends his kind respects to you, he is 
muuch mended. Mr. Rhea is at home in improved health, awaiting 
the answer to his letter, which he will, now never receive, or if Mr. 
Monroe had lived, my opinion was he would not answer, because 
he could not deny the statement made in Mr. Rhea’s letter, and 
silence was the only course. I have no doubt but Mr. Calhoun 
was advised of it, he is pursuing his old course, of secret writing, 
and slandering me, I have a few extracts from his letters sent to 
me, which in due time, will aid 1 finishing the picture I mean to 
draw of him. I said to him in my reply to his letter ‘ when leisure 
would permit, and the documents were at hand, I would present 
a different colouring to the subject, than he had given to it.’ 
I will fulfil my promise—You may rest assured Duff Green, Calhoun 
and Co. are politically dead. Mr. Earle and Major join me in 
kind respects to you and sons and accept the assurance of my 
friendship and esteem. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren Esq, P 

Late Secretary of State. 

“JT write this in haste with an excrutiating head ache. I 
have no time to copy, and you must accept the hasty scroll just as 
it is, and decipher it as well as you can. I will write you soon 
again. 

Your friend, 
Ai ys 


490 ANDREW JACKSON AND Eariy TENNESSEE History 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Washington, July 25th, 1831. 
““My dear Sir: 

‘The inclosed has this moment reached me, under cover of one 
to me from Mr. John Randolph of Roanoke, with the request that 
I should forward it to you, I do this with much pleasure. 

‘““Mr. Randolph speaks in the highest terms of praise of the 
manner in which you retired from office, he says your course has 
been‘ manly and judicious.’ 

“The intelligence from Mr. McLane is that he will embark the 
22nd June or Ist of July. I hope he may be with you when this 
reaches you. 

“You will have seen the length, breadth and caliber, of the 
trio, three ex-Secretaries, who profess great sensibility, and would 
at the least hint have resigned, but from their own shewing, clung 
to office until dismissed by me. They have proved by their own 
shewing that I ought to have had a witness present whenever 
they approached me, to have guarded me against their base 
falshoods, and slanders. I had a hope that Berrien would have 
retired like a Gentleman, but I fear he is a stranger to what con- 
stitutes one as much as he is to truth. They are a happy trio and 
worthy of each other. Berrien found Ingham prostrate, and he 
thought like Duff Green that he could with his mighty mind and 
with Ingham and Branch for witnesses, raise him again, but if he 
does not regret his voluntary intrusion upon the public before he is 
done with it, Iam much mistaken. Blair has got him on the hip, 
and he will destroy him, before he lets go the hold. 

“Let me hear from you and any idea that may occur to you, 
worthy to be presented to Congress, suggest it to me, BEL believe 
me your friend. 

““Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren, Esq., 
Late Secretary of State. 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


‘(Private and Confidential) 
“Washington, Dec. 17th, 1831. 
“My dear Sir: 

‘‘When I wrote you for the last packett I was surrounded by 
company and had it not have been that in my previous letter I 
had promised, I should not have troubled you with that hasty 
scroll. 

“Congress have been some days in session, the committees all 
raised, but their leaders have not as yet unmasked their views, 
or the course they mean to adopt. 

“Clay and Calhoun both present. Rumor says that these 
antipodes In politics have come together on the tariff. If this be 
so, then we have a clue to their joint opposition of those important 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 491 


matters recommended in the message. Mr. Calhoun has declared 
to Mr. McLane that nothing will satisfy the south, short of the 
postponement of the payment “of the public debt, and an immediate 
reduction of the tariff on all imported articles, to fifteen per cent 
ad valorum. If Mr. Clay has come down to this standard, it 
must be to catch the south, and to thwart the views of the admin- 
istration. Virginia will not take the vote if Mr. Clay presents it, 
she is as firm as a rock, and I think Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, except those members who are 
Calhouns mere tools, will unite in meeting the north upon a reduc- 
tion of the tariff, so as to give a fair protection to our own labour, 
by placing it upon a fair competition with Europe; and if Mr. 
Clay unites with Calhoun in his course his political sun is set for- 
ever. All his fame built on his American system is lost, and all his 
friends gained by this bubble, desert him. 

“T have no doubt Calhoun and Clay will unite in one scheme, 
that is if possible to destroy me, and prevent your growing pop- 
ularity. We have nothing to fear from their intrigues so long as 
we continue the straight forward uniform course we have adopted, 
looking alone to the good and prosperity of our beloved country. 


*“*The other day the Convention at Baltimore nominated, as 
instructed, Mr. Henry Clay for president, and John Sargeant |for 
vice president. I am told that several members of that body have 
said that it was not with any hope of his success at the next elec- 
tion, but for future use, and to prevent him from sinking into 
oblivion as a candidate for the presidency, and prevent his friends 
from attaching themselves to others as my successor, that is to say, 
to keep you down, if possible. 

“Calhoun and Duff Green are both sunk into imsignificance 
and will be both soon in oblivion. This they forsee and are become 
desperate, and are prepared to do any act of desperation that may 
appear to give the least glimmering hope to their wild ambition. 
I have no doubt but Calhoun would, if he could, induce South 
Carolina to secede from the Union, if he was sure he could place 
himself at the head of that Government. Governor Hamilton, 


_ I regret to say, appears equally mad and reckless as Calhoun, 


and the old adage appear to be realised, ‘ that evil communication 
corrupt good principles.’ This appears to be the case with Ham- 
ilton, and as a proof of the fact, I refer you to his 4th of July speech 
and his late message to the Legislature of South Carolina. These 
afford conclusive proof to me, that he is devoid of truth, candour, 
honor, or fairness, equally destitute of all, as I know Calhoun is, 
and fills the character given him by Mr. Pomsett and others. 
I pray you to read them; the 4th of July speech shews, if his re- 
lation was strictly true, which it is not, that he has sacrificed every 
principle of honor by exposing im a public speech, what he says, was 
a private and friendly conversation, this is pursuing the example of 
his master Calhoun. I sincerely regret how he has fallen, for I 


492 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


thought him, as I once thought Calhoun, a high minded honorable 
man, but birds of a feather will flock together, and Hamilton has 
been corrupted by Calhoun. 

‘Letter from Columbia inform that Calhoun remained four 
days at Columbia on his way hither, and whilst there, I have no 
doubt, prepared that part of H’s. message that attacks me. Cal- 
houn came on to Richmond, and tarried there until he arranged 
Governor Floyds message, at least that part that assails me. All 
will not do. The old dominion, Judge P. Barbour says, in a letter 
to Mr. McLane, remains as firm as a rock, and cannot be shaken; he 
is in an extasy with my message. So much for domestic. I must 
draw your attention to our Foreign matters. 

“Tam in great hopes, from your gracious and friendly reception 
by the King and Queen, as detailed in your last, as well as the con- 
fidence you have acquired in the ministry, that you will succeed in 
the proposed arrangements on the subject of impressments of our 
seamen. If you can, it removes every thing that can interrupt 
that harmony and good feeling which now exists between the two 
governments, and which is increasing daily, amongst our citizens, 
and will lay a lasting foundation for perpetual peace and harmony 
between the two countries. Surely Great Britain must see that 
her interest, as well as ours, urge the settlement of this question so 
important to the peace of both. There is nothing but this that 
can disturb it, for I have resolved that the North Eastern boundary 
shall not, because I am sure, that Great Britain will agree, if the 
Senate do not adhere to the award, to settle this matter justly by 
arbitration. ‘Therefore you can urge, that with the present mutual 
good feelings that exist, how unjust England and America would be 
to both their best interests to permit this subject to remain un- 
settled, which might involve them in war, and which may now be 
settled by treaty; and when thus settled, will ensure perpetual 
peace and harmony between the two nations. ‘This would afford 
me a fine theme with others in my farewell address to the nation; 
_ obtain it. Urge this matter with all your tact and talents, and 
you will succeed; and if you do it will add another gem to your 
character for diplomacy, which the people must long cherish with 
gratitude. Closely connected with this subject, is a regulation by . 
treaty on the subject of our fugitive slaves to Canada. I inclose 
you a letter addressed to me on this subject from a reputable 
source, that you may feel the British minister on this subject and 
know whether they will make some arrangement whereby our cit- 
izens may reclaim their fugitive slaves from Canada. 

“TI cannot close, although it is now late, without naming to 
you, confidentially a subject which is constantly on my mind; it 
is this: If I am re-elected, and you are not called to the vice 
presidency, I wish you to return to this country in two years from 
now, if it comports with your views and your wishes. I think 
your presence here about that time will be necessary. ‘The op- 
position would if they durst try to reject your nomination as 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 493 


minister, but they dare not, they begin to know if they did, that 
the people in mass would take you up and elect you vice president 
without a nomination; was it not for this, it is said Clay, Calhoun 
& Company would try it. 
“You know Mr. Livingston is anxious to go abroad, and 
I am as anxious again to have you near me, and it would afford me 
pleasure to gratify both. I find on many occasions I want your 
aid and Eatons. I have to labour hard, and constantly watch- 
full; had I you in the State Department and Eaton in the War, 
with the others filled as they are, it would be one of the strongest 
and happiest administrations that could be formed. We could 
controle the, little Federal leaven in that high minded honorable 
and talented friend of ours, Mr. McLane. Cass is an amiable 
talented man, a fine writer, but unfortunately it is hard for him to 
say no, and he thinks all men honest, this is a virtue in private, 
but unsafe in public life, for the public interest sometimes may 
suffer from having too much confidence. You are aware of the 
friendship I have for Livingston, and the respect I have for his 
talents, that he is a polished scholar, an able writer, and a most 
excellent man, but he knows nothing of mankind, he lacks in this 
respect, that judgment that you possess, in so eminent a degree. 
His memory is somewhat failing him, and a change in due time, 
would be pleasing to him, and with your consent, beneficial to me, 
.if re-elected. I would not be surprised, if contrary to your de- 
clared wishes, you should be run for vice-president; as sure as the 
Senate make the attempt to reject your nomination. I am told it 
will be done. This will bring you back in twelve months, if not, 
then I wish, if re-elected, to bring you back as intimated. I flatter 
myself in one year you will be able to effect the great and important 
object of your mission. I shall write you again shortly, my house- 
hold, ali join in kind salutations to you, your son, and Mr. eee 
& believe me your friend. 
‘“‘Andrew Jackson. 
“Mr. Martin Van Buren, 
Minister London. 
P.S. I need not say that this is foe your own eye. 


“Dear Sir: 

“T enclose you Judge White’s letter this moment received, he 
refuses to accept the appointment offered him. 

I wish to see you, Eaton, and Mr. Livingston this morning, ad- 
vise Livingston of this, as I expect he is with you and come by the 
War office and bring Major Eaton with you. It willnow be proper 
to make a selection, and the task is one of some difficulty. 

“Yours, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
May 20th 1831. 
“*( Private) 
Martin Van Buren, 
Secretary of State. 


494 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


SENATOR ISAAC HILL TO VAN BUREN. 


“Washington, Sunday, January 29, 1832. 
Three o’clock, P. M. 
“Hon. Martin Van Buren, 
Dear Sir: 

“Mr. McLane having just been here and informed us that an 
express would leave this evening in time for the sailing of the Packet 
from New York, I seize the occasion to give you some account of 
what has transpired since I took a seat in the Senate. In the 
proceedings of that body, as was perhaps best becoming a man of 
my humble capacity at the first session, I have taken no open 
active part: during the few first sittings with closed doors ready to 
hunt with indignation for the vile slanders which had but ‘ airy 
nothing’ to give them a ‘local habitation and a name,’ I soon 
learned how to become calm when I saw bitter malignity and un- 
restricted violence defeating itself. Not to mention other minor 
cases, the nominations of Mr. Davezac, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Mc- 
Lane and yourself were all contested with great acrimony. The 
man who led the van was the ‘War, Pestilence and Famine’ 
Orator: in relation to the three first, after repeatedly coming to 
the charge, the assailants ingloriously retreated, and magnanimous- 
ly suffered all of them to pass without calling for a division; and, 
in the subsequent debates, claim has been laid in that all of them 
voted for the confirmation! Davezac was characterized by Clay 
as having been guilty of ‘infamous crimes,’ Livingston as a dis- 
honest speculator and a knave, and McLane as having wittingly 
and willingly aided and abetted in disgracing the country, and 
humbling it before the British throne. In each of these cases, our 
friend Forsyth demolished the ground on which the orator stood, 
laid his motives naked to view, and put on such stripes, such man- 
ful lashes as made the orator wince. 


“But my object more particularly is to give some account of 
your own case, which has terminated less fortunately than the 
others only because you stood in the way, or had stood in the way 
of the insatiable ambition of more than one man in that body. 
I say, had stood in the way; for if I had said that you now stood 
in the way of one politically defunct, it might be called nonsense. 


“December 7, you was nominated by the President Minister 
Plenipotentiary to the Court of Great Britain. Other nominations 
made at the time were referred to their appropriate committees, 
but after some conversation on the subject, it never having been 
the practice to refer nominations of Cabinet and Foreign ministers 
to any committee, these were laid upon the table. 


‘The nominations here laid for twenty days until December 27, 
when yours was called up, and after some vituperation from 
Holmes, Webster, Clay and Ewen, a new member from Ohio, of 
the Hartford stamp, in which the instructions and the restoration 
of the British West India trade were introduced—a most sore 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 495 


business to the gentlemen—the nomination was referred to the 
committee of Foreign Relations with the view ostensibly to as- 
certain whether your accounts at the Treasury had been settled. 

“January 10, Mr. Tazewell, from that committee, reported 
that your name did not appear on the books of the treasury as 
having any accounts, that none of the public monies had been 
committed to you for disbursement. 

“It was I believe at this sitting that Holmes introduced two 
resolutions instructing the committee on Foreign Relations to 
“inquire of the President ’ the causes which produced the removal 
of the late officers of the Cabinet, to report to the Senate whether 
the causes given in the letter of the President were the ‘true’ 
instead of the ‘only’ causes, &c. Either on that or on a subse- 
quent day, and previous to the 17th, I believe the discussion oc- 
cupied several hours both on the 16th and 17th, much debate took 
place. The friends of the resolutions themselves, after expending 
their whole strength of vituperation, became convinced that they 
were too insulting, indecorous and improper for any committee 
to act upon, gave them up by general consent, Henry Clay holding 
on to them the last of all. The friends of the administration 
wished to meet them directly, and therefore voted against Holmes’ 
motion to lay them on the table; but the motion was determined 
in the affirmative by the casting vote of the Vice President. Mr. 
Marcy wished to assign the following Thursday (19th) to act on 
the nomination and the resolutions; but Mr. Holmes, suggesting 
that if he did not insist on the resolutions now on the table, he 
might wish to substitute others, and agreeing if he did substitute 
others he would give notice on Thursday, with the understanding 
that all other business should be postponed to give it preference 
on Tuesday following, Mr. Marcy acquiesced in this arrangement. 
Accordingly, when questioned on the subject, Mr. Holmes answered 
that he should withdraw or not prosecute his resolutions, and should 
submit no others. I should have mentioned, by the way, that Mr. 
Marcy at two several times, accorded by the consent of all our 
friends, distinctly stated that if any member in his place or on 
his responsibility would prefer any charges against the nominee, 
he and they would go to the utmost extent of investigation, and 
that they wanted this investigation. None were exhibited, and 
there was no intimation that any would be exhibited, until: 

“Tuesday, January 24, when the nomination was again taken 
up. As I have some written minutes of expressions made at this 
and the subsequent sitting, I will be more particular. The ball 
was opened by Clayton of Delaware, who said he had it from the 
mouth of one of your former friends (a Mr. Clement of Brooklyn, 
N. Y.) that he heard you say, in presence of a company of your 
partisans in the city of New York before you sailed for Europe, 
that the cause of the explosion in the Cabinet was a conspiracy 
between the Vice President and some of the members of the Cabi- 
net to sacrifice and ruin the wife of another member of the Cab- 


496 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


inet. Clayton said he believed this. In addition, he said he 
considered you exclusively accountable for the disgraceful in- 
structions to Mr. McLane, that he did not believe the President 
ever read those instructions, and that if he did read them that 
he never understood their import. 

“Foote of Car. believed all that had been stated by Clayton 
respecting the ‘explosion’ &c. He was followed by Clay, who in 
five minutes became stark mad and raving the moment he touched 
the instructions and the West India trade; these seem all the way 
to have operated on him like the sight of water to any rabid animal. 
He said he solemnly belleved, especially after what he had heard 
this day #rom:the Senator from Delaware, that Martin Van Buren 
was the sole author of the explosion of the Cabinet. He believed 
too that M. V. B. was the author of that system of proscription, 
and first introduced it here to invite a scramble for the offices, that 
he brought that system from the State of, New York, where he 
understood it had been and still was practised by the dominant 
party in that State. 

“He went on to read from his own correspondence while Sec- 
retary of State to shew that no instructions were then sent forth 
degrading to the honor of the country, that the nation then main- 
tained a proud stand, &c. He then read from your instructions, 
emphasizing and enunciating much in the style of some veteran 
Xantippe who was quarrelling with her neighbor. He said you 
had instructed the minister ‘Go to the British minister and say 
Sir, we have been wrong, we know we have been wrong; we 
entreat your Majesty to forgive us.’ At length, having reached 
the top of his climax, he stated ‘ There is no escape for Mr. Van 
Buren; he stated what he knew was false, or else he was culpably 
ignorant.’ Seeing some of us writing, he lowered his voice, and 
again raising it—‘ I repeat it. He knew what he stated was false; 
and gentlemen may take it down.’ ‘This charge of falsehood he 
went on to reiterate, and repeated certainly five times. Nothing 
but the man himself in the extreme attitude of passion, could give 
you a tolerable idea of this exhibition. ‘ 

“T should have stated that Webster, previous to the second or 
third speech of Clay had, in his usual Jesuitical manner, had 
given his reasons for voting against the nomination, in which he 
disclaimed all party views, and as an earnest of his intentions 
would punish the partisan minister; he was for the honor of ‘ the 
country and the whole country.’ 

“Forsyth answered Clay and Webster in his best manner, 
taking into view the humble manner in which the late adminis- 
tration had knocked, knocked, knocked at the door of the British 
minister, who was not at home, and were refused the boon which 
Was now of no value. 

“Marcy also noticed the gentlemen’s ‘ proscription’ and re- 
minded him (Clay) that his friends commenced removals for opin- 
ion’s sake; and repelled the aspersions upon the democratic party 


, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 497 


in New York. Others spoke on the subject. But it was not until 
“Wednesday, January 25, that the cloven foot was laid bare. 
Miller, a new member from South Carolina, and evidently the 
creature of C—un, filled up the measure of calumny to overflowing. 
He went on a while with Mrs. E. &c. and at length came upon a 
widow lady in the city who (he said) had been by you escorted to 
the President’s levees, and whose sons you had provided for in the 
public offices. This was so new to me, that I could not devise who 
the widow was. It has since become manifest to the public, 
that she is Mrs. B. with whom you boarded; and there is a general 
burst of indignation for the calumny. 

“Forsyth here rose, indignant as you may well suppose, threw 
back the calumny in the face of its authors, and pointed so dis- 
tinctly at an individual in it that the chair called him to order. 
* The chair has no right to call me to order, I appeal to the Sen- 
ate,’ said the indignant Senator. 

“Poindexter of Mississippi was scarcely less abusive than Mil- 
ler. The result of the whole was that Calhoun carried Miller, 
Hayne, Poindexter and Moore; and these, added to the force of 
Clay, made 23 votes: Prentiss of Vt. was absent, having probably 
promised your friends not to vote against you. Bubb filed off 
against Prentiss; and Calhoun decided the vote against you. 

* Tis all well for yourself, as other letters from your friends will 
tell. Col. Johnson, Mr. Grundy and other conspicuous men have 
already raised the Van Buren standard; and I have only time to 
say, I remain. 

“Your friend and obt. servant, 

“Tsaac Hill. 


“Excuse the haste. I have not even time to read over and correct. 
JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Washington, May 19th, 1833. 
““My dear Sir: 

“Yours of the 16th instant has just reached me. I am still 
much afflicted with pain in my side, shoulder and breast, which has 
removed higher in my breast. I have postponed answering the 
various committees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia &c., until 
I could form some positive idea as to my ability to perform the 
trip intending under probable hopesof being able to proceed, that! 
would announce in my replies, that I would set out, if not the first, 
early in June next. . This is my intention and I will determine ina 
day ortwo. I will proceed on the intended journey, if my strength 
promise to hold me out in performing part of it, and I do hope, my 
fellow-citizens will let me pass with as little pomp and parade as 
possible. 

“T have seen Dr. Southerland, he and Doctor Burden have been 
here on a visit, what speculation not known, unless the Potomac 
bridge. 

“The outrage attempted by that dastard Randolph, and his 


32 


498 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


associates in the conspiracy, upon my person, receives but few ad- 
vocates except the Fredericksburgh Arena, The Richmond Whig, 
The Intelligencer, and Duff Greens, but surely the attitude taken 
by the Judiciary of Virginia, ‘that there is no law to arrest a 
fugitive from justice,’ is a disgrace to the Old Dominion, and well 
calculated to disgrace our institutions abroad, and will compell us 
here to go armed, for our personal defense, and may lead to, what 
I would sincerely regret, and which never shall happen whilst I 
am in the office, a military guard around the President. The only 
safety now for the officers of Government here is to be prepared 
and shoot down or otherways destroy those dastardly assasins 
whenever they approach us; should I ever meet this dastard my 
enemies may tell and boast of the sequel. The grand jury I am 
told are investigating the conspiracy and Mr. Key thinks, will be 
able to unfold it. I have no doubt but Duff Green was knowing 
to it, more of this when we meet. 

“You have inclosed me only one letter (you say two) and that 
is Mr. Edwards dated Hartford, Connecticut, and which has no 
relation to the subject of Hayward or Govenor Cass, therefore I 
infer that you have not inclosed them. 

“The Globe, I suppose, will let the subject of Randolph’s de- 
fault and robbery of the dead, pass for the present, but the subject 
of the committee of Fredericksburgh inviting Duff Green ‘as a 
distinguished gent ’, and as Duff say, intended to invite Randolph, 
will be followed up until the committee either denies the insult 
intended me or explains this matter. Duff Green intended as I 
now believe to draw from me an invitation to the national Cadets 
as my life guard to Fredericksburgh. I knew nothing of them, the 
Captain addressed a polite note tendering his companies service as 
my guard, which was politely refused, saying if they went to the 
ceremony it must be on the invitation of the committee, or their 
own free will. Since my return I find that the Captain is Duff 
Green’s foreman, and one third the men in his service, and the 
balance of such materials, and it is evident that it was intended to 
have these spirits present to witness the outrage as my body guard, 
and in it, and swear for Duff and his party as occasion might re- 
quire, for we know, that fight few of them will. We will ere long 
clean the stable of some of those who have lately been smuggled 
into office, as well as those who are too old to perform the duties. 

“TI have just seen the Major (your son) he is in good health. 

My hold Household unite with me in kind salutations to you. 

“Vr friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren, 
Vice President, 
U States. 

“This company was on board the boat selected for my con- 
veyence. Duff had gone on before. 

‘“‘(Endorsed in pencil): Randolph’s attack and war to May 16 
or 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 499 
VAN BUREN TO JACKSON. 


“Albany, December 27th, 1832 
*““My dear Sir: 

“Your last has in consequence of the obstructions in the traveling 
been long detained by the way. It gives me sincere pleasure to 
find from its contents that the unusual and severe crisis in our 
public affairs finds you in such fine health and spirits. I agree 
with you fully that any thing which would wear the appearance of 
faltering in the course which you consider pointed out by your 
duty, might be fatally injurious to the country, and detremental 
to the character of Republican Governments; sensible that you 
must estimate your standing with the people too well to think 
any thing beyond what is absolutely necessary, requisite, to keep 
the public mind satisfied, that happen what may you will do your 
duty. Depend upon it my dear Sir that there is scarcely an in- 
dividual in the country who doubts that for a moment, and that 
there is no man who can forbear to the last point with more safety 
than yourself. I like your suggestions in respect to your proposed 
application to Congress in respect to every step you propose to 
take; but am not sufficiently acquainted with the law of Treason 
to decide whether the mere passage of the bills would constitute the 
crime and justify the measures you speak of. That should be well. 
and carefully looked into, and no position assumed in your com- 
munication to Congress upon so delicate a point which is not pal- 
pably correct; as the doctrine of a constructive levying of war is 
justly unpopular in this country; rendered the more so by the 
abuses of it in Europ2. In all your communications to Congress 
therefore I would confine my request as strictly as possible to the 
employment of the forces granted by them to exigencies which. 
render its exercise indispensable to the due execution of the laws. 
The extent to which the hopes of the people rest upon you, and the 
intense anxiety that nothing should be done that can be avoided, 
which lessens the chances of an amicable adjustment will excuse, 
if they do not require, the observance of a greater degree of caution 
than might otherwise be deemed necessary. You will say Iam on 
my old track, caution, caution: but my dear Sir, I have always 
thought that considering our respective temperments there was no 
way perhaps in which I could better render you that service which 
I owe you as well from a sense of deep gratitude as public duty. 

“T regret to see that the discussion of some of the doctrinal 
points of the proclamation, the most assailable of which might 
perhaps have been omitted without weakening the force or probable 
effect of that document, is likely to bring you in collison with 
Virginia. Whilst you carry the great body of the people in the 
other states with you upon the vital point, you will I am sure re- 
ceive the dissent of that state with those feelings of toleration and 
magnanimity which you have never failed to exhibit in all honest 
differences of opinion, upon points in respect to which men are so 


500 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


apt to disagree as the theory and proper operation of our peculiar 
system of Government. As matters stand and as they are I think 
likely to remain, there is no difference of opinion between you 
which interferes with the performance of your duty according to 
your own views of it; and the present is not a season for the settle- 
ment or discussion of abstract propositions. "They disclaim in- 
dignantly the right of a state to resist the execution of the laws, 
whilst she is in the Union, and insists that such resistance is crim- 
inal, and admit as who can deny, your duty to see to their execu- 
tion. South Carolina has not, and will not secede. She will avail 
herself of the Mediation of Virginia and postpone the operation of 
her ordinance. Of this there cannot be reasonable doubt. It 
would be worse than madness in her to refuse to do so, and her 
leading men will be stimulated to it by the pressure of their in- 
ternal dissentions. Even if she succeeds most of the Virginians 
will admit that it is a question for the remaining members of the 
confederacy to decide whether they will form a new Government, 
or wage a war against her to compel her to remain in the Union, 
and that the right of deciding upon the subject, whether the author- 
ity attempted to be exercised over her is authorized by the con- 
stitution or not, is reciprocal, as well also as the means of redress. 
If so that question is fitly to be decided by Congress, where you 
also mean to go for your means and authority. But my second 
sheet is nearly full and my letter already as long as you have time 
to read. I would have written you yesterday but have been en- 
gaged with the Governor in looking over his message. I hope and 
trust that he will respond fully to your last message upon the 
subject of the Tariff. If so the public opinion here will soon settle 
down right and our members will be strengthened in their good 
intentions. Look at the Argus of today. Rember me kindly to 
all your family and accept my sincere prayers for your health and 
happiness. 
“M. Van Buren. 

“To General A. Jackson. 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


““(Private) 
“Washington, January 13th, 1833. 
“My dear Sir: 

Yours of the 9th instant was handed to me by Mr. Wright last 
night, with whom I had some conversation on our general concerns, 
and I congratulate your state and my country for sending us a man 
of his integrity, talents and firmness, at the present crisis. It will 
give me pleasure to consult him on all your local concerns; and 
here I would remark that the Secretary of State and many of 
your friends in New York were the cause of the selection of Mr. 
Dewit. 

“TI have received several letters from you which remain unan- 


COL. GEORGE W. SEVIER. 


Son of Gov. John Sevier by his second wife, Bonny Kate. Takenfrom miniature owned by Mrs. James Sevier 

of Tallulah, Louisiana. Procured for the author by Mrs. Sarah W. N. Leonard of Baltimore, Maryland, great 

granddaughter of Gov. Sevier. Ensign 1804; 2nd Leiutenant 1805; 1st Lieutenant 1807; Capt. Rifles 1808; 
Lieut.-Colonel 1812, Colonel Rifles 1814, honorably discharged 1815, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 501 


swered. You know I am a bad correspondent at any time, lately 
I have been indisposed by cold, and surrounded with the nullifiers 
of the south and the Indians in the south and west; that has oc- 
cupied all my time, not leaving me a moment for private friend- 
ship, or political discussion with a friend. 

“T beg you not to be disturbed by any thing you may hear from 
the alarmists of this place; many nullifiers are here under disguise, 
working hard to save Calhoun and would disgrace their country 
and the Executive to do it. Be assured that I have and will act 
with all the forbearence to do my duty and extend that protection 
to our good citizens and the officers of our Governnient in the south 
who are charged with the execution of the laws; but it would de- 
stroy all confidence in our government, both at home and abroad, 
was I to sit with my arms folded and permit our good citizens in 
South Carolina who are standing forth in aid of the laws to be 
imprisoned, fined, and perhaps hung, under the ordinance of South 
Carolina and the laws to carry it into effect, all which, are probable 
violations of the constitution and subversive of every right of our 
citizens. Was this to be permitted the Government would loose 
the confidence of its citizens and it would induce disunion every 
where. No my friend, the crisis must be now met with firmness, 
our citizens protected, and the modern doctrine of nullification and 
secession put down forever, for we have yet to learn whether some 
of the eastern states may not secede or nullify, if the tariff is re- 
duced. I have to look at both ends of the Union to preserve it. 
I have only time to add, that as South Carolina, has by her re- 
plevin, and other laws, closed our courts, and authorized the 
Governor to raise 12,000 men to keep them closed, giving all power 
(to) the sheriffs to use this army as the posse comitatus, I must 
appeal to Congress to cloth our officers and Marshall with the same 
power to aid them in executing the laws, and apprehending those 
who may comit treasonable acts. This call upon Congress must 
be made as long before the ist of February next as will give Con- 
gress time to meet before that day, or I would be chargeable with 
neglect of my duty, and as congress are in session, and as I have said 
in my message, which was before the So. C. ordinance reached 
me, if other powers were wanted I would appeal to Congress 
was I therefore to act without the aid of Congress, or without, 
communicating to it, I would be branded with the epithet, tyrant. 
From these remarks you will at once see the propriety of my course, 
and be prepared to see the communication I will make to Congress 
on the 17th instant, which will leave Congress ten days to act upon 
it before the Ist of February after it is printed. The parties in 
S. C. are arming on both sides, and drilling in the night and I 
expect soon to hear that a civil war of extermination has 
commenced. I will meet all things with deliberate firmness and 
forbearence, but wo to those nullifiers who shed the first blood. 
The moment I am prepared with proof I will direct prosecutions 
for treason to be instituted against the leaders, and if they are 


502 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


surrounded with 12,000 bayonets our Marshall shall be aided by 
24,000 and arrest them in the midst thereof—nothing must be 
permitted to weaken our Government at home or abroad. 

“Virginia, except a few nullifiers and politicians, is true to the 
core. I could march from that state 40,000 men in forty days, 
nay, they are ready in N. C., in Tennessee, in all the western 
states, and from good old democratic Pennsylvania I have a tender 
of upwards of 50,000, and from the borders of S. C. and N.C. I 
have a tender of one entire Regt.—The Union shall be preserved. I 
write as usual in great haste. 

“Yr friend, 


“Andrew Jackson. 


“P. S. I will be happy to hear from you often, and see you as 
early as a just sense of delicacy will permit. My whole house- 
hold salute thee affectionately. : 

rage fs 
_ “Martin Van Buren, Esqr. 


CAMBERLING TO VAN BUREN. 


“Washington, December 26, 1832. 
“My dear Sir: 

“You will imagine me a regular correspondent, but today I 
merely communicate a message from Mr. Archer. He desires 
me to premise that he has no personal regard for you, this I was 
to omit on no account. That being over I was to go on and say 
that as he considered you in opposition to mischievous and bad 
men, it would be his public duty to support you, and for this reason 
he furthermore desired me to say that whatever appeared in the 
Albany Argus was attributed to you; and that as to getting 
Virginia to adopt the Presidents proclamation doctrines, it was 
utterly out of the question; that you might rely upon it no matter 
who might say otherwise that the old fashioned doctrines would be 
sustained by an overwhelming vote; and that any attept to resist 
them would be destruction of your strength in Virginia. I believe 
this is pretty much the substance of what he desired to be com- 
municated. His great object seemed to be to prevent the Argus 
from running counter to Virginia notions at this crisis as you 
must of necessity father everything which is therein published. 
If you have nothing more to father you will be well off, but as the 
moral of the proclamation will sustain it with the people, it is not 
necessary to fight for or defend its abstractions. 

“Sincerely yours, 
“C, ©, ,Camibenlinee 
“M. Van Buren, Esq. 
P.S. By the way A— tells me that Broadneck is a Jackson— 
V. B. man, there was a sort of comparision (in the Argus) between 
his and Kitchin’s course not altogether favorable to the former, 
in the first article, but A— did not refer to that. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 503 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Washington, May 12th, 1833. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T have received your letter of the 9th. It is creditable to the 
nation the general disgust and execration that the dastardly and 
cowardly insult offered me by the late disgraced and degraded 
Lt. Randolph, and it is equally creditable to the public presses 
that so much unanimity on this event prevades their columns; 
still you see that the National intelligencer unites in paleiating 
Randolph, as he did Watkins. I am now convinced he, Joe Gales, 
is as base a man as Duff Green. 

“Tt is much regretted by me, and ever will be, that no one who 
knew Randolph when he was approaching me where-I was confined, 
sitting between the table and berths, in all the humble attitude of 
a petitioner, that there were none to announce that it was Ran- 
dolph. Mrs. Judge Thurston was sitting at the corner of the table, 
who knew him, and the judge standing opposite to me the other 
side of the table; if this had been done, I would have been pre- 
pared and upon my feet, when, he never would have moved with 
life from his tracks he stood in. Still more do I regret that when 
I got to my feet and extricated from the bunks and table. that my 
friends interposed, closed the passage of the door, and held me 
until I was oblige to tell themif they did not opena passage I would, 
open it with my cane. In the mean time the villain surrounded 
with his friends had got out of the boat crying they were carrying 
him to the civil authority; thus again was I halted at the warf. 
Soloman says, ‘ there is a time for all things under the sun,’ and 
if the dastard will only present himself to me, I will freely pardon 
him after the interview for every act or thing done to me, or he 
may thereafter do me. 

“TI observe your remarks with regard to Doctor Southerland. 
My rule is to repose in all but place confidence in none, until I 
find they are worthy of it. I mean to confide to none any thing 
that I do not wish to come before the public, until I know they are 
worthy to be confided in; and I am sure you will agree with me, 
that I have had sufficient cause for adopting this rule. It is a 
safe, and one I would recommend to be adopted by you with our 
friend Doctor S. He is capable of doing much good, but I have 
such a contempt for Ingham that I am suspicious of all who have 
been his, and Calhouns satelities and tools. Still I would extend 
to Doctor Southerlands district that equality of office, as I would 
to any other, and I would treat him with as much justice as any 
other member in congress. 

“My health has been bad since you left me. I have been la- 
bouring under a severe affliction from pain in my left side and 
breast for some weeks, it has changed to my left breast and is very 
painful today. I may have got a former broken rib injured against 
the table in the struggle to get to my feet the other day, if this is 


504 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the case, I hope it will pass off in a few days. Major Donelson has 
gone to the races at Baltimore, on his return I will determine 
whether I will attempt the travel east this summer, when I will 
write you. 
“All my household join with me in kind salutations to you 
and your sons. I write in much pain, 
“Yr friend, 


““Andrew Jackson. 


‘(Endorsed In pencils): Randolph insult Judge King and Dr 
Sutherland. Philadelphia. 


VAN BUREN TO JACKSON. 


“Staatsborough, Dutchess County, 
September 14, 1833. 

“My dear Sir: 
“Wishing to answer your last by return mail, I gave it rather 
a hasty perusal, and did not notice so particularly as I have since 
done your suggestion in regard to my coming to Washington. 
I shall be governed in that matter altogether by your wishes. 
You know that the game of the opposition is to relieve the question, 
as far as they can, from the influence of your well deserved pop- 
ularity with the people, by attributing the removal of the deposits 
to the solicitation of myself and a monied junto in N— York 
and as it is not your habit to play into the enemies hands you will 
not, I know, request me to come down unless there is some ade- 
quate inducement for my so doing. With this consideration in 
view you have only to suggest the time when you wish me to be 
down, and I will come forthwith. A letter under cover to Mr. 
Cambreling will always reach me in a few day(s). I shall at all 
events come down some time in October to arrange my house, 
probably about the 20th. If earlier is necessary say (so) and al- 
ways remember that I think it an honor to share any portion of 
your responsibility in this affair. Allow me to say a word to you 
in regard to our friend McLane. He and I differ toto caelo about 
the Bank, and I regret to find that upon almost all public questions 
the bias of our early feelings is apt to lead us in different directions. 
Still, I entertain the strongest attachment for him, and have been 
so long in the habit of interceding in his behalf, that I cannot think 
of giving it up, as long as I have it in my power to serve him and’ 
his. From what passed between us, at Washington, I think it 
possible, that he may (if Mr. Duane resigns) think himself obliged 
to tender his resignation also, which if accepted would inevitably 
ruin him. Your friends would be obliged to give him up politically 
and when stript of influence his former Federal friends would 
assuredly visit their first mortification at his success upon him in 
the shape of exultations at this fall. I am quite sure that if ever ~ 
he tenders his resignation he will nevertheless be anxious to remain 
if he can do so with honor, and if you should say in reply that you 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 505 


will accept his resignation if he insists upon it, but that you confide 
in him notwithstanding the difference between you upon this 
point, and that, if he could consistently remain in the administra- 
tion, you would be gratified, I think he would be induced to with- 
draw it. 

“JT would not advise you to change your desire for anybody 
but it appears to me that you might go thus far consistently with 
what is due to all parties. I think I cannot be mistaken in be- 
lieving that he told me explicitly that he did not know Mr. Duane’s 
views in regard to the removal of the Deposits when he was selected. 
When at Washington I informed you that I had thought of Mr. 
Taney for the Treasury but had not made the suggestion to you in 
consequence of its not meeting with Mr. McLanes concurrence. 
On accidentally since reading a letter which he wrote me upon the 
subject of Mr. Duane’s appointment, I find it stated that he had 
not mentioned my suggestion in regard to Mr. Taney to you in 
pursuance of my request that he should not do so, until I could 
ascertain whether Mr. Butler would take the office of Atty. 
Gen. if he should think proper to offer it to him, and which he 
declined and consequently nothing more was said of the other 
idea. Although this had escaped me I presume it must be so. 

“Mr. Irving and myself have been spending a couple of days 
here very pleasantly with our old friend Genl. Lewis who desires 
me to say a word to you in behalf of the Mechanics Bank of New 
York as one of those to be selected for places of deposit, &c. 
He says that that institution made him large advances as quarter 
master during the late war and at a period when thenational finances 
were in the worst condition. Although I do not wish to take 
any part, unnecessarily, in regard to the selection I feel it my duty 
to bear testimony to my own knowledge of the patriotic spirit 
by which that particular institution was influenced at the period 
referred to and I shall be happy to find that it has been found possi- 
ble to include it in the number. If four are selected there can 
be no possible difficulty upon the point. The Genl. wishes to 
be cordially remembered to you. 

Remember me kindly to all your household and believe 
me to be. 
“Very truly yours, 
“M. Van Buren. 
“Genl. Andrew Jackson. 
(Endorsed) Mechanics Bank. 
Recommended by M. Van Buren. 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 
“Washington, October 27th 1834. 
““My dear Sir: 
“Yours of the 23d enclosing one from Mr. Rives reached me 


this morning, that enclosing one from Genl. Hamilton (S. C.) 
by due course of mail. I should have written you before this, 


506 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


but detained to be able to give you the result in Ohio, but still 
doubts hang over the success of Helfenstine, still my own opinion, 
from all the information received is, that the result will be found 
ten in favour of the administration nine against it. This is of no 
other importance except the election of the next president should 
devolve on Congress, when it would give the state to the republican 
canidate. Lucas is certainly elected, as I suppose by a majority 
of from 4 to 6000, and there is no doubt that Ohio is decidedly 
democratic. Mr. Lytle lost his election by his own folly and Dr. 
Mitchell lost his by defection and the Senate management of 
some of the friends of the administration who wanted to run them- 
selves, and, by their course, nutralised many who would have been 
at the poles and voted for Doctor Mitchell. 

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, have nobly done their 
duty, nullification is nullified, and the ire of South Carolina is 
beginning to burn against Calhoun and will destroy him. The 
state has shewn symtoms of returning to its senses again by electing 
two union members of Congress, Manning in the Lancaster Dis- 
trict and Rogers one, Clowney in York District, and it is believed, 
but not positively known here, that Mr. Campbell of the George- 
town District, formerly Mitchells, is beaten, and I have no doubt 
that in two years more the Union men will triumph, and nullifica- 
tion be entirely repudiated in So. C. 

“T have read Mr. Rives letter with attention; he is badly ad- 
vised from Paris as to Mr. Livingston’s absence; he was in Paris 
until the Chambers was prorogued by the King—-; did every thing 
that could be done to induce the King to convene the Chambers 
in October or the Ist of November, to which he had given his 
pledge ‘ that all his constitutional powers should be employed to 
bring this matter before the chambers,’ so that we should be ad- 
vised of the result before the meeting of Congress, and to induce 
the King to comply (hazzarded the experiment of shewing the King 
at a private audience my private letter) his reply, that he could 
not put the members of the Chambers to the great inconvenience, of 
meeting in the hot season. What’s the personal inconvenience 
of the members put in competition with his private pledge, as 
well as the pledge of the national faith by his own act in ratifying 
the Treaty. Livingston is quite outraged at this conduct, com- 
plains that nothing was done last Congress, and is of the opinion 
that the King and Ministers are acting hypocritically, and does 
not want the Treaty carried into effect, and wishes to throw the 
responsibility upon the Chambers; surely Mr. Rives has not weigh- 
ed the subject well. Can the Executive under the circumstances 
be longer silent? if he speaks to Congress of truth, and he can- 
not refrain from recommending to them to legislate provisionally 
upon this subject, for as one chamber have refused, another may, 
and the King having prorogued the chambers to the 29th of Dec- 
ember, it is evidently with the view, that Congress may adjourn 
before we hear of the result; and that result will be (unless overaw- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 507 


ed by provisional Legislation) another rejection. The right 
way is for the Executive to speak and let Congress act, or not, 
as it wishes. 


“T mean to speak of the Bank, and with point and energy, with 

regard to its robbery of the Treasury and recommend a suspension 

of its bills n payment of the public dues, until the Bank pays over 
the amount withdrawn from the Treasury. 


“T hope New York will do its duty as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
and Georgia, and I may add Ohio, for since I began this letter I see 
a letter from Mr. Helfenstines District, saying he is certainly 

elected. This gives a majority in that state in Congress. 


“T am anxious to see you here. Should you be detained after 
the election, send on the remarks on the Wabash appropriation. 
Mr. Taney informs me he handed it over to you. 


“You have no doubt seen the Nashville and some other Ten- 
messee papers. Be assured that Tennessee will never separate 
from the democratic party, or take any step to weaken it. No 
man will be run for president unless taken up by the general con- 
vention. I know judge White too well, not to know that he never 
will permit his name to be used unless he believes it is the wish of a 
respectable portion of the people of several states; he never will 
permit his name to be used to withdraw from the people the power 
of the election of president, and throw it into Congress. This 
would be aiding the views of the opposition, divide and conquer, 
all things are progressing well. To fill the vacant seat of Judge 
Johnston I have some difficulty. There are several from Georgia. 
Cuthbert recommended by Govr Lumpkins, Wormly, Wayne 
and Hagner by others: from S. C. Petigrue by Mr. Poinsett, and 
Judge Johnston by Judge O’Neal, all good men and I supose true. 
Which to take will you advise? Cuthbert (as Judge Wayne 
has been elected) and as Cuthbert is so strongly recommended 
by Govr Lumpkin, in whom I have great confidence, if his 
principles of the constitution are sound, and well fixed, I would 
like to gratify. 

“Write me on the receipt of this and if you are to be detained 
long at Albany, send me on the paper on the Wabash appropriation. 

I have just heard that my dwelling house at the Hermitage is 
burnt, the whole main body with the addition on the east end has 
been consumed, with the furniture in the upper story. I have 
ordered it to be rebuilt as early as possible. I am afraid all my 
old wine has been consumed, if so, the quarter cask got from you of 
sherry is gone. 

“With great respect, your friend, 


“Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren, 
Vice president U. S. 


508 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 
JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Smithland, Kentucky March 22nd, 1837. 
““My dear Sir: 

““‘We landed here half after 4 oclock A. M. to-day, and are 
now waiting for a boat to convey us to Nashville. We hear of 
several hourly expected from New orleans bound to Nashville, 
and hope to find one here today. My health is improving since 
I got to the steamboat conveyance, and have a right to hope when 
I reach the Hermitage, and am in quiet, that it may still improve. 
Andrew and Sarah, with Colonel Earle, Colonel Polk and lady 
unite with me in kind solicitations and best wishes for your health 
and prosperity and that of your sons, to whom we wish to be 
presented kindly. 

“From the time I left you, I have been literaly in a crowd. 
Such assemblages of my fellow-citizens I have never before seen 
on my passage to or from Washington. I have conversed with 
many of our friends fully and freely about you and your administra- 
tion. They all are delighted with your inaugural address, and 
say if you carry that out, you will be sustained by the whole Re- 
public Democracy of the Union. I have pledged myself to all 
that you will comply with it to the letter and with your principles 
fully exposed in your letter to Mr. Williams, of Kentucky. ‘This 
has quieted all their fears and you may rely upon a firm and gen- 
erous suport from all of the family of the Democratic Republicans. 

“T have heard much said on the subject of the Treasury order. 
You may rest assured that nineteen twentieths of the whole people 
approve it, all except the speculators and their secret associates 
or partners. By these, you will if you have not already been 
strongly pressed to have it suspended, and from no quarter more 
strongly than from a few in Mississippi and Alabama. I left Mr. 
Falls, the Jacksonville printer, Mississippi, with several others, 
who are concerned with the great ones, whose business there was 
to have the Treasury order suspended and the public lands pressed 
into the market. By the speculators was the 15,000,000 Bank 
chartered, its bills issued payable in New York without any funds 
there to redeem them, and I hear since my arrival here that, that 
mamoth bubble has blown up. Many strong houses in New 
Orleans broke, and I expect it is the forerunner of a very general 
bankruptcy amongst the speculators, some of whom left Washing- 
ton in great haste, whilst others remained to press you and the 
Secretary of the Treasury to suspend the Treasury order; to all 
which I tell you, as your sincere friend, that if you do, until after 
a full examination, by a strictly confidential and honest agent, into 
the real condition of the Banks, your revenue will be lost by the 
breaking of the deposit Banks; for rely on it, when directors are 
so much involved in speculation, or so deeply indebted to the 
Banks, they will return to the Secretary of the Treasury notes 
of other Banks as cash, when those banks are unable to redeem 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 509 


their paper in specie. I pray you as a friend to be guarded on 
this subject, and before you yield to the importunities of those 
speculators, be well assured that your deposit Banks are all safe. 
The speculators are all broke, except they can save themselves 
by breaking their Banks by over issues. I must close for the pres- 
ent. Present me in the kindest manner to all the heads of De- 
partments and their families, and to Mr. F. P. Blair and his. 
“Your friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren, 
President U. States. 

“P_S. Col. Polk concurs in al] I have here said. I will write 
you again when I reach home and answer all the addresses. 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Hermitage, March 30th, 1837. 
“My dear Sir: 

“I reached home on the 25th instant somewhat improved in 
strength, but a very bad cough increased by cold taken on board 
the steamboat. Our worthy friend, Doctor Lawson has left us 
and will be at Washington before this reaches you. He ac- 
companied me to the Hermitage where he stayed but two nights, 
when he with Col. Earle went to Nashville to make arrange- 
ments for his return to the city. He was to have returned but 
being disappointed in getting a steam boat, a stage coach being 
ready, took his passage to Louisville, and I was prevented the pleas- 
ure of seeing him again. Your kindness and solicitude for my 
health and preservation as fully evidenced by sending the Doctor 
with me, is fully appreciated by me. The only reward I can make 
you is a tender of my sincere thanks, and to assure you that this 
act of kindness is deeply treasured by gratitude in my heart to 
you, and my excellent friend Mr. Butler, to whom present me in 
the kindest terms. 

“T have not been able since my return to go any where, unless 
over to Major A. J. Donelsons to see his dear little Rachel who 
is confined to a dark room with a very sore and inflamed eye. I 
hope rest, in due time, may restore my health, so as to be able to 
ride over my farm and to visit my good neighbours. This will 
be a source of amusement and much pleasure to me. Be this as it 
may, I have great reason to be thankful, as I am, to a kind Prov- 
idence for sparing me to reach home with my little family. 

“The approbation I have received from the people every where 
on my return home on the close of my official life, has been a source 
of much gratification to me. I have been met at every point by 
numerous democratic republican friends, and many repenting 
Whigs, with a hearty welcome and expressions of ‘ well done thou 
faithful servant.’ This is truly the. patriot’s reward, the summit 


@ of my gratification and will be my solace to my grave. 


510 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“When I review the arduous administration thro which I have 
passed, the formidable opposition to its very close of the com- 
bined talents, wealth and power of the whole aristocracy of the 
United States, aided as it was by the monied monopolies of the 
whole country with their corrupting influence with which we had 
to contend, I am truly thankful to my God for his happy result. 
This is not only gratifying to me but must be to every patriot who 
is looking to the perpetuation of our happy government, and 
glorious union. It displays the virtue and power of the sovereign 


people and that all must bow to their will. But it was the voice - 


wf this sovereign will that so nobly sustained us against this formid- 
able power, and enable me to pass thro my administration so as 
1o meet its approbation. 

“What a pleasing foreboding to you, it must cheerand stimulate 
you thro your eight years, should you live, and keep always in view 
the pledges in your inaugural address. Execute them to a tittle 
and the result is certain that you will be hailed by the united 
voice of the great democratic republicans ‘well done thou faithful 
servant.’ You have only to be guarded against the will of am- 
bitious men, you must not temporise with any but fearlessly pursue 
your own matured judgement based upon your declared principles, 
and the people will sustain you against all the arts, machinations, 
and combinations of apostates, ambitious and designing men. 
Demagogues were my bane. Remember I had many professed 
friends in whom I had great confidence who for office sake aposta- 
tised and you may meet with some Judases in your ranks. In one 
respect you are safe, your cabinet is filled by men of talents and 
integrity on whom, with safety, you can rely; and I have no fear 
but your administration will be one of success, and meet the ap- 
probation of the whole democracy of the country. 

“T cannot close this letter without again drawing your attention 
to the present state of the paper system and the safety of the 
Deposit Banks of the west and south west. The late multi- 
plicity of new paper Banks cannot have escaped your notice and 
that of the secretary of the Treasury. I am informed from a 
source that can be relied on that the planters of the south west are 
greatly indebted, that it will take at least three successful crops, 
with great economy to meet their debts. They have many of them, 
become speculators, and are paying to the banks and brokers, 
30 per cent for money, hence the great desire to multiply banks and 
increase the paper issues. The more paper afloat, the more it 
depreciates. The Rail Road Bank of Mississippi of 15,000,000 
has already blew up; houses in New Orleans to vast amount failed, 
one house it is said by some for six million by others ten. Let 
the Secretary of the Treasury look well to his Deposits Banks; 
he will find less actual specie in them, I fear, than the reports shew. 
He may find the amount of Bank notes that are paying for their 


notes in specie, charge as specie, as reported, but if those Banks, 


were called on to redeem their notes in specie must stop payments. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 511 


Safety to the revenue admonishes me, that all the Deposit Banks 
in the west and southwest ought to be well examined and the 
money actually counted. 

“T have taken some pains to enquire as to the Treasury order. 
You may rely that it is immensely popular with all the working 
class, and only found fault with by the great body of the specu- 
lators and gamblers in stocks, and those largely indebted who 
want more paper. The more that is issued the more depreciated 
it becomes, and the facilities to get it moreeasy. All such care but 
little about the success of your administration, or what becomes of 
the revenue if they can succeed m their speculations. And let 
me tell you that there are members of Congress in this class m 
whose advice it would be dangerous to repose. For I tell you 
should any of the Deposit Banks suspend specie payments it will 
shake your administration to its center. It would seem to me 
that a common share of prudence would await memorials from the 
people, the real labouring classes, for the suspension of the Treasury 
order, for I now predict that it is the only thing that cam preserve 
the revenue and the country from great evil and losses. The west- 
etm paper is now much below par. For banks at Nashville issue 
no bills payable at their counter, they are perfect shaving shops 
and swindlers. 

“You will observe that I write you with the frankness of a 
friend, these hints are submitted for your safety amd the serious 
reflection of the Secretary of the Treasury. The remarks are made 
with a heartfelt desire that your administration may be as success- 
ful as all your real friends wish it and as I fully anticipate. Check 
the existing paper mania and all its corrupting influence must 
cease, and then the republic is safe, and your administration must 
end in a happy triumph, so may it be. 

“Rumor and some newspapers says that Col. King of Ala- 
bama has refused the Mission to Austria, ts this true? 

“My whole household unites with me in our kind salutations to 
you and yours. Will you have the goodness to present us af- 
fectionately to all the heads of Departments and their amiable 
families, and to Mr. and Mrs. Blair and theirs. Please say to Mr. 
Forsyth that I have recd his note with the imclosures, that I 
will write him soon but at present I am too much exausted with 
writing this. 

“Accept the assurance of my continued friendship and esteem. 


“Andrew Jackson. 

“Martin Van Buren, 
President of the U. States. 

“(Endorsed :) A. J. March 30th., on reaching hom= after the 

expiration of his term. 


i eee 


512 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


(Private) 
“Hermitage, October 22nd, 1838. 
“My dear Sir: 

“Yours of the 8th instant is just rec’d with its inclosure and 
the bond handed to Major A. J. Donelson. 

“T sincerely thank you for your kind sympathy in my bereave- 
ment in the death of my friend Mr. Earle. He was a good man 
and steadfast friend, and when I was able to travel was my com- 
panion; but he has been taken from me when least expected, and 
I am taught to submit to what Providence chooses, with humble 
submission, he giveth and he taketh away and blessed be his name, 
for he doeth all things well. When Mr. Earle was first taken I 
was just recovering from a severe attack that had reduced me very 
low, but I have recovered from it and am now enjoying more 
strength and better health than I have for many years; but it 
may bea calm before a violent storm. I trust ina kind Providence, 
perfectly resigned to his will and to go hence whenever he makes 
the call. It may be that he may permit me to live to see the great 
battle fought and our country redeemed from the corrupting in- 
fluence of the combined money power so dangerous to the liberties 
of the people; and I have to congratulate you and my country 
upon the fair prospects that is opening to our view of the supremacy 
of the soveriegn people over this corrupting influence. 

“T have always had confidence in the virtue of the people, they 
have been deluded by designing demagogues and their panics, but 
that delusion is fast vanishing; they begin to see the imposition 
attempted upon them, and the ball is rolling, and all the money 
power will not be able to stop it until it reaches the Mouth of the 
Mississippi. Nothing short of a complete divorce between the 
Government and all Banks will satisfy the people now. ‘The poor 
converservatives are just where I hope and trust all apostates will 
ever be found, despised by all honest men. We have this day heard 
of the triumph in New York. This added to Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio, cheers us all whilst it makes our Tennessee 
Federalists droop their heads. Old Republican Tennessee will soon 
be herself again, and you will have in the next Congress a full 
representation of pure Republicans. The recoil in Tennesse2 is 
great. Clay, mark me, will not be a candidate; and I doubt 
whether you will have any opponent unless it should be by Genl. 
Harrision. He will be scarcely a feather as Ohio is lost to him. 
We have been a favoured nation and I trust a kind Providence will 
long continue to us as a nation the blessing of our Republican 
system. 

“Mr. Kendall is now with me, he reached here last friday, had 
an attack of his old complaint, but please to say to his family he 
is well over it, and that we will endevour to give him good health 
or his return journey. 


The Sevier or Xavier Coat of Arms used by the Xaviers in France through the Centuries. Procured for the Author 
by Mrs. Sarah W. N. Leonard of Baltimore, great grand daughter of Gov. John Sevier. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 513 


“My whole household join me in kind salutations and con- 
gratulations for the Republican triumphs over the whole Union, 
for we have no doubt of New York. She will be faithful to the 
Republican cause and give the great Keystone State the real 
fraternal embrace. Remember he that continueth steadfast to 
the end is to receive the reward, of ‘ well done, thou good and faith- 
ful servant.’ I hope Congress at the next Session will pass the 
bill to divorce the government from all Banks, without specie 
paying details; this is the entering wedge and leaves all details to a 
separate bill and at once secures purity of legislation to Congress 
by freeing it from all Bank influence, and leaving Banks to their 
own resources to Bank upon. In haste, 

“Your friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Martin Van Buren 

President U. S. 

“P.S. I write this by candle light and I hope you may be able 
to read it. 


“Andrew Jackson. 
JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 
(Private) 
“Hermitage, December 4th, fees, 
“My dear Sir: 


“Your letters have been duly received and should have beee 
promptly answered, but my son being absent, I had to expose my- 
self in attending to my domestic concerns, caught cold which has 
laid me up for several days. 

“I have read with concern the corruptions practised at our 
late elections in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, by the 
opposition, and am gratified at the firm virtue and patriotism of 
the people who have so nobly resisted the temptation offered to 
bribe them with money to become apostates from principle and 
sell their liberty for a mess of pottage. I rejoice at their virtue and 
the republican success and am not the least daunted at the result 
in New-York. The noble stand in New Jersey by Republicans 
against usurpation of the Governor and the majority of his coun- 
cil, is doing much good everywhere and if carried out will prostrate 
the Federalists and their conservative allies. What feelings of 
compunction must Rives and Richie have. I have, when I read 
that Swartout is a defaulter, reason to exclaim O tempora O 
mores. I had great confidence in his honesty, but when men 
change their principles, arrange themselves against the Govern- 
ment that feed, or, when in office, becomes speculators, they ought 
forthwith to be turned out of office, and I trust you will profit by 
this hint, and Judge Grundy will be a good councillor on this oc- 
casion. Please say to the Judge I have recd his letter, will 
write him soon, that Major Donelson has just returned and today 


33 


514 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


shew me his letter with the enclosures and will write him. I have 
said to the Major to reply that I had no agency in the prosecution of 
Randolph, that I have to this old age complied with my mothers 
advice, ‘to indict no man for assault and battery or sue him for 
slander;’ and to fine or imprison Randolph would be no gratifica- 
tion, and not being prosecutor nor having any agency in it, I can- 
not enter a nole prosequi. But I say to you should he be found 
guilty, my wish is that you extend to him a pardon, and the re- 
mission of the fine, which would be the better mode to close this 
prosecution. It would be no gratification to me to hear that he 
was punished by fine and imprisonment, but letting terminate in 
a pardon might have a good effect upon society. I hope he will 
be pardoned and fine released, and Major Donelson I have in- 
structed so to write in reply to Judge Grundy. A nole prosequi 
cannot be entered only by leave of the court on application of the 
prosecuting attorney, and on the ground that he is unable to pros- 
ecute further for want of proof to sustain the prosecution. This 
would amount to a declaration that the defdt was not guilty 
of the charge. 

“T am happy to hear that the Major is about to form such agree- 
able union with such a family; be pleased to offer to him and his 
amiable lady my sincere congratulations on this joyous occasion. 

Please say to Judge Fulton with my respects I will write him 
soon, and to Mr. Blair with my respects to his family, that I have 
rec’d his letters and will write him. A. Jackson and Sarah, 
with Major A. J. Donelson join me in kind salutations and 
good wishes to you and your sons; and I add, fear not, altho 
New York has proved truant, still the people, the working people, 
the great bone and muscle of the Republic, will sustain you, and 
will pass a law this session, if unincumbered, with the specie clause 
in its detail. ‘This done and the opposition is dead and the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of the Treasury can manage the specie part of 
the business. May God bless and prosper your course. Be firm 
in it, and alls well. 

Yr sincere friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. _ 
“Martin Van Buren, 
President U. States. 


JACKSON TO VAN BUREN. 


“Hermitage, March 4th, 1839. 
‘“My dear Sir: 

“T have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your kind 
and much esteemed favour of the 17th, ultimo. I assure my dear 
Sir, that I am well apprised of your situation, and never ex; ect 
your reply to any letter I write you, until your leisure may permit, 
which I am aware that seldom occurs. 

“T have been an attentive observer of the passing political 
scenes at the Capital, and if my judgment and experience do not 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 515 


fail me, you may rest assured that the opposition has done them- 
selves great injury in the manner in which they have appointed the 
investigating committee, and particularly by having that notorious 
scamp, Wise, upon it who has prejudged, and charged the Secretary 
of the Treasury with impeachable offenses. The Secretary of the 
Treasury has nothing to fear, nor has the administration, the truth 
will out, that there are more of the opposition concerned in this 
defaleation of Swartwout than the public is aware of, and I fear 
some of the subordinate officers and heads of Bureaus, have been 
concerned with him in the gambling in stocks. If possible Swart- 
wout and Price should be both brought back and as severely dealt 
with as the law would or could inflict. I never have been as much 
disappointed as I have in Swartwout and Price. The latter was 
appointed from the entire and united recommendation of the 
Republican party, and they both ought to be gibbetted. [I still 
think there is upwards of 600,000 of the Merchants bonds left 
with the opposition Merchants that will be discovered hereafter. 
I think the time has arrived when public opinion will sustain and 
require the removal of all public officers who were opposed to the 
administration, and the time has arrived when the Government 
owes it to its own safety to remove all those who are opposed to the 
administration and secretely trying to injure it. ‘Therefore they 
ought to be removed. 

“Although I regret the course that Mr Rives has taken, it 
was not altogether unexpected. He and Talmage were determined 
to be at the head of a new party and by January the opposition 
would come into power, but their fate will be that of all traitors 
and apostates, and Burr and Whites fate will be theirs. I cannot 
believe the Virginia Whigs will unite in electing Rives; however 
much they may rejoice in the treason they will despise the traitor. 

“T have noted that part of your letter that relates to your 
Southern tour and Col. Polks views thereon. I am unable to 
say how far the view of Col. Polk may be correct, as my course 
have been always to put by enemies at defiance, and pursue my 
own course. If my health permits I will meet you at Memphis, 
if that should be your rout, and escort you to the Hermitage, 
stopping at such intermediate points as may be convenient. Un- 
less indeed, Colonel Polks ideas should be upon consultation be- 
lieved to be best, which at present I cannot well see the force of, 
when a visit to me at the Hermitage surely could not be used to 
disadvantage the cause. It is true, the next August elections are 
of the highest importance to our state, but if we could get suitable 
candidates out for Congress we would carry every district in the 
State, but in this Congressional District we have as yet got no can- 
didate. Mr. Burton, since the withdrawal of Carroll, has been 
called upon by the principle republicans in Davidson to let his 
name be run for congress. If he accepts the call he will beat Bell 
easy; if he does not it is at present doubtful whether Bell will be 
opposed. Shameful tho true. I still hope Burton may yield to 
the call. j 


516 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


““‘We are now experiencing as cold weather as any we have had 
this winter. My son and Major A. J. Donelson are both in the 
Mississippi state, preparing Cotton farms. My little family are 
visited with scarlet fever. All unite with me in kind salutation 
to you and yours. 

“T am happy to hear that Major Forsythe and Mr. Poinsett will 
accompany you, present me kindly to them and their families, 
and say to them we will hail them welcome with you and yours 
at the Hermitage. 

“Believe me, yr friend, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“The President United States. 


JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE, 1773-1833. 


Congressman 1799-1813, 1815-1817, 1819-1825, 1827-1829; United States Senator 1825-1827; Minister to 
Russia May, 1830 to September 1830, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 517 


Fess keene kee eae eee eas] eae oe oe aw] eae eke ea Tse eae ee eee] 
Bi a] 
cB CHAPTER 20. 2 
& ru 
& Letters beginning in 1833 to and from Andrew = 
: Jackson. 3 


GEN. WILLIAM CARROLL TO JACKSON. 


“Nashville, August 9. 1833. 
“My dear Sir: 

“A few days ago I made you a communication on the subject 
of the watch word and countersign of the British army on the 
morning of the 8th. of January 1815. I regret that I could not be 
more explicit, but after a lapse of so many years, without the aid . 
of written documents, I find it dificult to remember any of the 
particulars. 

“Our election is over, and we have received information of the 
result from almost every county in the State, and I believe that I 
may venture the opinion that Major Eaton has not lost any 
strength, indeed his more sanguine friends say that he has gained. 
That however will be better known in a few days, as measures will 
be taken to ascertain precisely how the matter stands. The state 
of feeling which the late election has ingendered between Grundy 
and Foster and their immediate friends renders it certain that no 
coalition can be formed between those gentlemen. This will be 
favorable to Eaton as no unkind feelings exists against him, and 
the weak party will ultimately give him its support. We shall have 
a very different state of things to what we had at the last Session. 
Then the necessity did not positively exist to make an election, 
but now it must take place to effect which the friends of some one 
of the candidates must give him up, and I know that some of the 
supporters of Foster have come to the determination to quit him 
the moment his chance is doubtful, and go for Eaton. To secure 
his success however it is absolutely necessary that he should be here, 
and I would advise him to set out immediately and pass leisurely 
through East Tennessee. It will stimulate those who are now his 
friends and make new ones. I will most cheerfully give to Major 
Eaton my support. In doing so I am actuated by two considera- 
tions, First, I believe that you desire his election, knowing from 
long experience that you can in all respects confide in him; Second, 
it is proper that his own State should give some unequivocal proof 
of its approbation of the conduct of one, against whom so much 
unjust slander has been levelled. I request that you will be kind 
enuogh to write me on this subject, and if you deem it proper, ex- 


518 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 


press your wish for the success of Major Eaton. You may rest 
positively assured that it will be used only under any restrictions 
you may think proper to impose. Indeed the only use that I 
would think of making of it would be to show it confidentially to a 
few of the members with whom I might believe it would have in- 
Duenice. 


“From the returns already received I have no doubt we shall 
have a convention. This I regret, for I incline to the belief that 
the opinions of the people at this time are not favorable to the 
formation of a sound constitution. And indeed we have got along 
very happily for almost forty years under the present constitution, 
which could be amended in some particulars, but in amending its 
present defects, we have no surety that it will not receive some 
fatal stabs in its most important parts. A few of us who feel a 
deep interest in the formation of a constitution which will alike 
insure energy to the government and liberty to the people, have 
come to the conclusion that it will tend greatly towards securing 
those ends, that you should be a member of the convention This 
may start you at the first view, but I beg you to think of it. A time 
can be selected for the meeting of the convention when you could 
with convenience visit Tennessee, and which perhaps you will be 
disposed to do independent of this consideration. It will not be 
necessary to require of you either much time or labor. It is the 
weight of your name and authority which we want, and I do honest- 
ly believe that you will have it in your power to render a most 
signal service to your State, one which will go down to posterity 
among the most brilliant of your public acts. There is time enough 
‘for reflection on this subject and I entreat you not do decide hastily 
against it. 

“On Friday night last our old friend and fellow soldier General 
William White was taken ill with fever, and on Tuesday he breath- 
ed his last. I have no doubt you have heard of the death of General 
William Arnold. He was a strange man, full of great plans that 
could never be realized, and at the time of his death was endeavor- 
ing to procure a large grant in the Province of Texas with about as 
much probability of success as if his application had been made 
for lands in the moon. Yet such was the infatuation of the people 
of Tennessee that previous to his departure he had sold in small 
portions, in the expected grant, to the amount of sixty or seventy 
thousand dollars for notes payable in one two and three years the 
principal part of which is good. 

“As it seems to be understood that Mr. Stephenson is to be 
sent to England, I have thought it probable that the friends of the 
administration had begun to think of a suitable successor as Speak- 
er. I have heard Judge Wayne of Georgia spoken of and also 
Richard M. Johnson. I presume that either would do tolerably 
well; but it would it seems tome promote the interest of the Admin- 
istration better to select a gentleman from some one of the large 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 519 


States. Ii you have any views on this subject that I can aid in 
effecting, it will afford me pleasure to contribute my mite on 
learning what they are. 

“Wishing you good health, I am most respectfully and 

“Sincerely, your friend, 
“Wim- Carroll. 

“His Excellency 

“Andrew Jackson, 

“Washington City.” 


JACKSON TO HUGH LAWSCN WHITE. 


“June Ist. 1831. 
““My dear friend: 

“This moment Major F. W. Armstrong’s letter of the 22d. in- 
stant has reached me—in which he details a conversation had 
with you agreeably to my request to him and which he concludes 
in the following language ‘that if I did believe it necessary either 
for myself or the country notwithstanding his (your) objections 
he (you) would accept. 

“Tn my letter to you of the 29th of April last, I went into the 
subject on each point, both as to my private wishes and feelings 
as well as the public feeling, so that I need not advert to either 
only to add that your appointment has been hailed everwhere by 
the nation asa happy one. And as to myself that nothing would be 
more grateful. 


“T trust you know me too well to require any assurance that no 
consideration of a mere personal nature could induce me to ask 
at the hands of my friends anything which it would be injurious 
to them to grant, much less could I do so from one placed in such 
peculiar and unhappy circumstances as you are. In my letter to 
you oi the — I stated my conviction that your appointment was 
under the circumstances of vital importance to the public interest 
and that it would moreover be particularly gratifying to myself. 
All subsequent reflection and information have but served to for- 
tify those opinions: and I assure you my dear Sir, that if you could 
have been sensible of the deep interest taken in the matter in every 
part of the Union you could not have hesitated. There has not 
been an instance since the establishment of the Government where 
an appointment has been hailed with more satisfaction by the 
people than yours. 

“Wishing to reply by the return mail and not desiring to fore- 
close you by your declaration thro our mutual friend Majr. A. 
from a more deliberate acceptance under your own hand, I have 
thought it my duty as your sincere friend thus to write you and to 
keep ever thing silent and confidential until I receive your answer. 

“Yr friend, 


Ac | he 


520 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 
GEN. JOHN COFFEE TO JACKSON. 


“‘( Private) 
“Cosas Creek near Florence. 
“Oth July 1831. 

“Dear Genl: . 

pad Wee aee: fancied) to you for several letters since I wrote you, 
for which I offer you my thanks, for was it not for the information 
you kindly give me, I would be entirely ignorant of the passing 
events at Washington, for we cannot rely upon any thing scarcely 
which we see in the newspapers. I see that my friend Eaton is 
acting himself, now that he is not shackled with office, this is what 
I expected of him, it is right, and just what every honest indepen- 
dent man, who will take the trouble to think for himself, will 
approve of. At suitable seasons I expect he will go the whole hog 
round—but he ought not to press it too fast, times and circum- 
stances will offer when all will come on by accident as it were— 
but he should always be prepared. Duff deserves it well, but it 
wont do now, they are so much in the habit of crying out War, 
Pestilence, and famine, that they would turn their batteries against 
you, and although it has in reality, nothing to do with you, or you 
with the transaction, yet they would play it in that way, and many 
persons who dont understand the thing, and will not take the — 
trouble to understand them, will fall into their wake, and believe, 
or pretend to believe, that you are concerned in the affair, which 
no doubt is not the fact—therefore perhaps better for E. to let 
Duff pass on for the present, and untill he feels more safe and se- 
cure, when a surprise will set harder on him than at present when he 
expects it—but there is a time coming when he deserves punish- 
ment from Eatons hands. I see that Mr. Ingham has followed in 
the foot steps of his great file leader, and cries out, War, blood- 
shed, death and raw head and bloody bones—and calls on the people 
to witness. Mr. Ingram is now a private man the people has no 
more to do with him, than with any other person, yet they will 
use it in that way, and try to turn it against you if possible there- 
fore if possible to let things rest for the present, and until a more 
convenient season. I am glad to learn that Carrol will not offer 
for the senate, and that Grundy will. not have his opposition, for 
both being friendly to you would produce a division in the ranks of 
your friends which would (be) very disagreeable at this time. I 
think that Grundy will continue to do well—we learn here that 
Judge White has accepted the Secty of Warship—but have not 
seen it announced officially, I hope it is so—many persons have 
spoken of Eaton to fill his place, if the East Tennesseans will unite 
in his support, I have not heard a word from there, it would cer- 
tainly be a good thing for you, to get a friend so strong to fill the 
place of one ‘of your strongest friends withdrawn from the Cabinet 
for surely you will feel the loss of Messrs. Livingston and White in 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 521 


the Senate let who will fill their places, I would be much gratified to 
see Eaton in Whites place, but it is too soon yet to propose such a 
thing. 

“T have: been on the look out about the settlement of the Chick- 
asaw Indians West, I correspond with their Agent Reynolds freely 
and frequently, he is a fine fellow, and seems to understand them 
and their wants better than they do themselves—they had a whole 
weeks counsel at his house, (the Agency) early this summer, I did 
not go to it, believing it best to let them try their own resources 
first, and when they fail, they will more cheerfully call in aid. 
Reynolds shew me the memorial or a copy of it, which they sent to 
you asking your protection against the laws of the States, this 
woulc seem strange after what you said to them yourself at Frank- 
lin last summer, particularly with such men as George and Levy 
Colbert, who understands all those things as well as any other men 
what ever—they are trying to raise a simpathy for their situation. 
Reynolds is now gone to Mobile for money to pay their annuity, 
when he comes home he will advise me of a proper time, when I 
will visit them, and wee if an thing can be done. 

“I have lately received the enclosed letter from the principal 
Chiefs of the two eastern districts of the Choctaw Nation, inform- 
ing that a mistake was made in transcribing the treaty made with 
them last summer, in the names of two of the persons to whom re- 
servations were allowed—from their Statement it would seem 
reasonable, that the names should be corrected, but how, or by 
whom, I dont know. I have said to them, that if you and the sec- 
retary of War, did not feel authorised to alter or correct, that I 
thought you would ask Congress to do it, but that they ought to 
address the facts to you, in their official character as Chiefs of the 
Nation—the letter will shew you the nature of the mistake. 

“On the receipt of your letter kindly offering me your Machine 
for hulling Cottonseed preparatory to making Oil, I wrote to Mr. 
Steel enquiring of him if the machine could be transported in a 
waggon, from the Hermitage to this place—he sent me word ver- 
bally that he thought it could be put into a waggon, that the weight 
was not too great, but that it would be somewhat top heavey &c— 
I am determined to try it at all events, and if it cant come in a 
waggon I will bring it by water next winter after the waters rise. 
I have the best gearing to drive it, that could be made, at our 
factory on Sweet water creek, with a large water wheel, and a drum 
wheel all in compleat operation, with plenty of house room to con- 
tain the machine—so that I can make the necessary experiment 
Without incurring any cost in preparing the power to drive it. 
And if I find available business, I can arrange it at home or keep it 
there as may be most adviseable after trying it. My best im- 
pressions are, that if it succeeds well, I will continue to hull the 
seed at Sweetwater, and then haul the kernal home to my mill 
here (only about three miles and a good road) and make them into 
oil however this I can determine after making a trial, and if I suc- 


BD ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


ceed I will pay you the cost of the machine—we will not have seed 
to use or experiment with, untill we begin to Gin the present grow- 
ing Crop, which will be nearly Christmas, and by that time I will 
have all ready to make the trial. 

“Our Crops at present promise to be very good, they are not 
as early as usual at this season of the year, but they look very pro- 
mising indeed, both corn and Cotton is growing as fine, and fast 
as lever saw them. Wheat crops are light, but Rye and Oats very 
fine—so that we have abundant reason to rejoice and feel thankful. 

“TI believe I wrote you last spring that Col. Maunsel White of 
New Orleans had sold A. J. Hutchings crop of cotton raised last 
season for nine and three fourths cents, owing to its being down 
earlier than usual, and before the market was glutted. My own 
crop did not get down so soon, nor untill the market was full and 
the price fallen, the consequence was that it lay there in store un- 
till about the last of May, when he sold it for ten cents, the price 
of the very best Mississippi cotton at the time—but it was certainly 
the handsomest crop that ever was sent from this place. 

Our family are all enjoying health, and all unite with me, in 
tendering our love to you. 

“dear Genl. Your friend 
“Jno. Coffee 
“Genl. Andrew Jackson 


ALFRED BALCH TO JACKSON 


“Louisville Ky. 21st. July 1831 
“My Dear Sir, 

“In passing from Washington to this place, I enjoyed the oppor- 
tunity of seeing many persons from all parts of the country and more 
especially from Virginia, thro which state, I travelled for four 
hundred miles. I am entirely satisfied that the old Dominion 
remains true to our cause, the secret efforts of Govr. Floyd to the 
contrary notwithstanding. Nevertheless, I feel my self bound by 
my regard for your personal interests to say, that those who are 
most attached to you are the most distressed at the late events at 
Washington. Those scenes however will not be re-acted. Great 
efforts have been made, to induce the people to believe that there 
exists at Washington ‘a power behind the throne greater than the 
throne itself.’ This is always the resort of cunning and unprin- 
cipled adversaries. It is my most decided opinion that Major 
Lewis should set up an establishment for himself—should until 
the close of the next session of congress disconnect himself from 
you and see you only in a ceremonious manner. It is also my 
opinion that Mr. Kendall should attend only to the duties of his 
office and let you wholly alone and that Dr. Jones should be ex- 
clusively employed in sorting letters. Let me not be misunderstood. 
I interfere with no mans friendships or emoluments. Let these 
gentlemen serve the country. But, let them also suppress the’ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 523 


clamour made by the public and particularly by thousands of your 
own jealous friends, by leaving you for a season. I pray My Dear 
Genl, most earnestly and affectionately that this course may be 
instantly adopted. In passing thro the Presidents house and noting 
the state of matters there, I perceived the want of a presiding 
Lady in the establishment. The presence of ladies will prevent 
intrusions, to which I perceive that you are exceedingly liable. 
It is true Mr. Jefferson had no females with him but it must be 
recollected that Washington was a small place when he was in 
office and that for every politician then we have 20 now. 


“As Woodbury has but little of the Suaviter in modo, Barry 
must take a new position next winter so that he will be able to see 
our friends in Congress and gratify their vanity by saying pleasant 
things to them and giving them every now and then a Bite. The 
shortest road to the heart of half mankind is down their throats. 
All experience proves this remark to be true. 


“The battle next winter will be hot enough. It becomes us to 
prepare for it by putting our friends in Congress in training. Cal- 
houn is one of the worst of enemies. He is as restless as a guilty 
mans soul. His personal attentions are given to all the ignorant 
and enthusiastic. It is high time that his views should be developed 
and his real character understood by our friends. He is a spy in 
our camp and is worse than our open and decided enemies. The 
time will soon come when we shall make him wish he had never 
been born. 


“Our true policy now is to effect a union of action of all the 
. true hearted, throughout the country and this will be best effect- 
ed by a union of our real friends in Congress, next winter. Let 
us clear our decks for action, prepare our friends at Head quarters 
to move in a solid column and there will not be the slightest danger. 
The policy of Calhoun is to create interruptions amongst ourselves. 
The game of McClean and Clay is to foment them. We must 
counteract these tactics and no longer suffer the glory of the 
measures of the admn to be obscured by the clouds of our petty 
discontents. One great object of Calhounin publishing his ‘‘Book”’ 
was to call off the attention of the people from the masterly nego- 
tiations of the admn with foreign powers and when an arrangement 
is made with France, he will play the same game. Next winter he 
will have some new plot—attempt some new scheme, in which his 
cold-blooded selfishness will predominate over his regard (if any 
he has) for the interests of the country. Mark it! You will see 
this prophecy verified as sure as you live. 

“When Eaton and his wife arrive I shall take such steps as 
will be most judicious. I cannot believe that this poor fellows 
difficulties will again interrupt the public. It is impossible for me 
to suppose that Donelson and his wife will be absent from you more 
than 5 or 6 weeks longer. After I see him I will write you. Ma- 
comb and his wife sent a message by me to him and her which will 


524 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY ~ 


have a prevailing influence upon their minds. In a word I go for 
you and the cause of Liberty and the country, with all my heart 
and soul my mind and strength. 

“TI must beg that the communication which I laid before you be 
handed over immediately to the Atto Genl with a notice toMcComb 
so that he may deliver his documents. ‘The settlement of this 
matter, whether one way or the other is of much importance to me 
and one of your best friends in Tennessee. Delicacy will not per- 
mit me to state, standing as I do in my present relation towards 
you, the causes why an immediate decision is so necessary. 

“Very sincerely yours 
“Alfred Balch. 


“P..S. Please give my best regards to Trist, whose single hearted- 
ness and perfectly pure motives in all that he does entitle him to 
the confidence of all men of honor. 

‘“‘Also to Earl the very soul of goodness and honor. Please tell him 
that I shall write him in a few days after I reach home. 


ANDREW JACKSON TO — 
““( Private) 
“Washington Septbr. 18th. 1831. 
"Mby Dr?) Sir’ 

“Our mutual friend Major Eaton has just shook me by the 
hand, and he and Mrs. E. are to be off for Tennessee to morrow at 
7 oclock A. M. he has just given to the world his reply to the con- 
spirators. I send it enclosed. I think it an able document, and as 
far as it has reached, and we have heard from, there appears 
amongst political friends and foes but one opinion, and that is 
condemnation to the conspirators, Calhoun, Ingham, Branch, 
Berrien, Duff Green & Co. All things appear well at present. 
But my Dr Sir the opposition is constant, in their abuse, and it is 
painfull when every exertion is made by my administration for the 
honor and prosperity of our country, that we should be the objects 
ot daily and continued slanders and abuse, and purely because when 
solicited by the people I have permitted my name to be held before 
the people for the next term of the presidency? How disgusting 
this to a virtuous mind, and how I long for retirement to the peace- 
ful shades of the Hermitage, for I assure you the depravity of 
human nature which is daily unfolding itself by the slanders of the 
wrecked part of the opposition have truly disgusted me. I there- 
fore wish how soon I may be able with honor to resign the trust 
committed to me to another, and a better hand. Nothing recon- 
ciles me to my situation but the assurance of some virtuous men, 
that it is mow necessary for the preservation of the Union that I 
should permit my name to be continued for the next canvass for 
the presidency. This, with the determination never to be driven 
by my enemies, or to succumb to them, continues me here beyond 
the 4th. of March 1833 even if elected again. On the 3rd. of March 
1833, I hope to be able to file a receipt in full against the national 
debt. This will close my ambition. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 025 


“Mr. Livingston has not yet returned from New York, this I 
regret, as we have lost at least ten days in preparing to make a 
speedy demand on Naples for satisfaction of our claims, and a 
renewal of our demand upon Spain in the spirit of claiming nothing 
but what is right or permitting nothing that is wrong, which I © 
trust will produce justice by her to be extended to us; if we fail in 
this, then, to refer it to Congress for their action 


(rest of leaf gone) 


“P. S. When you read the appeal give me your ideas of its 
merits. Keep me advised of the movements in Europe. War over 
its whole surface appear to me inevitable. Present me to Mr. 
Vaughn and Mr. Randolph if with you. 


SAMUEL F. BRADFORD TO MAJ. W. B. LEWIS. 


Philada. Feby. 28th. 1832. 
“Dear Sir, 

“Your letter of 16th Inst. was duly received. From that time to 
the present I have been too unwell to answer it. I, now, do it with 
a feeble hand. 

In reply to your queries, I will frankly state my recollections of 
the circumstances to which you refer. 

“About the 20th. of March 1830, I was passing down the Penn- 
sylvania Avenue and overtook Gen. Overton, who was going to 
the House of Representatives. After some minutes of general 
Conversation, he abruptly said. “Bradford there must be a change 
in the Cabinet or we cannot get on.”’ “Change! What change, 
Sir, do you mean!’ “I mean, Sir, that Major Eaton must be re- 
moved.”” He added, ‘‘one hundred members of Congress will go 
home at least dissatisfied with the President, if it is not done, and 
many of his best friends will become his enemies.’”” My reply was 
“if the whole Congress were in a body to press Andrew Jackson to 
this act they would not succeed without shewing better cause than 
as yetis known. “Well, Sir,” said he, “‘it will be tried, for there is 
to be a meeting for that express purpose and very soon.’”’ The con- 
versation then turned on other topics until we reached the Capitol. 

“As this conversation took place accidentally, in the open 
street, and in common parlance without any requisition of secrecy, 
Tas the friend of Major Eaton thought it my duty to communicate 
it immediately to Major Barry that we might take measures to 
counteract or ward off the intended blow at our mutual friend. 
Accordingly I visited Major Barry within an hour after I had left 
Gen. Overton and communicated the conversation. He appeared 
not in the least surprised, but calmly said ‘“‘Gen. Overton made the 
same or nearly the same communication to me and I told him 
that as his information had so important a bearing on the interests 
of my particular friend, who was also one of the Cabinet, I should 
consider it my duty immediately to see the President on the sub- 
ject.” He added “I went directly to the President and informed 


526 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


him of the whole matter and I think you had better do the same as 
it will prove to him that the affair is becoming public and enable 
him to meet the event with his usual firmness and decision.” 
“T parted with Major Barry and went to the President’s dwell- 
ing and fortunately found him at home and alone. After I had 
made my communication, he instantly raised himself to the full 
height of his noble stature and with eyes lighted up with feeling 
and determination he uttered these words “Let them come on, 
let the whole hundred come on, I would resign the Presidency or 
lose my life sooner than I would desert my friend Eaton or be forced 
to do an act that my conscience may disapprove. I shall send for 
Gen. Overton tomorrow and sift the affair to the bottom.” 
“With great respect, 
“Your friend 
“Saml. F. Bradford. 
“Major W. B. Lewis 
Washington.” 


D. BURFORD TO JACKSON 


“Nashville Septr. loth. 1832. 
“Dear Sir: 


“Reports are circulated here, of the truth or incorrectness of 
which I desire to be informed. It is said that you entertain a pre- 
ferance for the election of Mr. Grundy to the Senate of the United, 
States. I speak my own and the sentiments of my constituants 
when I say that entire confidence is reposed in the purety and 
correctness of the past acts of your administration, a confidence 
which would induce me in all cases where I consistantly can, to 
pursue a course which may have a tendancy to advance and sustain 
it. 

“Mr. Grundy’s and Mr. Foster’s names are before the Legis- 
lature for the appointment; and a wish is entertained by some 
that Major Eaton’s name should likewise be presented, but it is 
said Mr. Grundy is prefered by you-and also, that whatever were 
the relations between you and Major Eaton heretofore, that they 
are not such at this time as should induce your friends to desire 
his services. Anxious to decide correctly between the preten- 
tions of the differant candidates and beleiving a correct knowledge 
of facts nessesary to be able to do so; if consistant with your views 
of propriety I would solicit a reply ftom you. I beg to be excused 
for the trouble, and hope you will properly appreciate the motives 
which have induced me to trouble you with this communication. 

“Very respectfully, I am, 
your Most obt, Servt, 


D. Burford 
“Gen. A. Jackson 
Hermitage.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HisToRY S27 


FELIX GRUNDY TO JACKSON. 


“Nashville, May 6th. 1833. 
“ (Confidential) 
“Dear Sir, 

Upon my arrival in Tennessee, I discovered, that Mr. Foster’s 
most popular friends were up as Candidates in almost all the 
Counties in the State. Appearances were so formidable, altho I 
knew I had the strength with the people, that I hesitated some 
time whether, I would engage actively in a controversy such as I 
foresaw it must be. My friends became very urgent that Can- 
didates on my side should be put up in opposition, I assented, so 
that with the exception of four or five, perhaps 6 or 7 Counties, 
Candidates are pitted between us. He has in general the most 
popular Candidates but my popularity is superior to his. In this 
County Yonger and Wm. E. Anderson are his Candidates, Horton 
and Hickman are mine. Balch runs at large but will get no votes 
of account. 

“T am charged with Nullification &c. You know how this is 
and that it is wholly untrue. I have therefore written the inclosed 
to you beleiving there would be no impropriety in your answering 
it fully. How far I should use your answer, I wish left to my dis- 
cretion. I shall be able perhaps to do without publishing it but 
in case of emergency, I should like to be permitted to do that. 

“T anticipate a very warm and doubtfull contest. Foster I 
think had greatly the advantage, matters at this time are very 
equally balanced, perhaps my chance not quite equal, but I have 
great faith in the people. 

The Armstrongs, McLemore, Donelsons &c, are supporting my 
friends, that is, Horton and Hickman. In Knox County, I am 
told there are none but Foster Candidates. 

“Yrs with great respect 
Felix Grundy. 
“Gen. Jackson 
President of U. States 
Washington City.” 


FELIX GRUNDY TO JACKSON. 


“Nashville, Augst. 7th. 1833. 
“Dear Sir, 

“The excitement growing out of the recent election has, in a 
good degree subsided, and things begin to look calm. 

“Gen. Wm. White died of fever, last night. 

“The last mail brought correct intelligence of various elections, 
which has changed the aspect of things very much to Mr. Fosters 
disadvantage, he cannot be elected, without some accidental 
occurrence. My own strength will be equal to my expectations 
in West Tenn. The East part of the State not heard from. 


528 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Polk has demolished Bradford literally, Polk, Bell, Johnson, 
Peyton and Inge are certainly elected. The rumor is, that Forester - 
has beaten Isaachs, and that Crockett is elected over Fitzgerald. 
The last I will not beleive until the proof is full and complete. 

“Yr friend 
“Felix Grundy 
“Gen. Jackson 
President of United States 
Washington City.” 


GEN. WILLIAM CARROLL TO JACKSON. 


“Nashville December 3. 1833. 
“My dear Sir: 

“The General Assembly adjourned on yesterday after a Session 
of eleven weeks. 

“The Senatorial election has been so long over that it seems 
scarsely proper to refer to it now. It may not be amiss however to 
state some of the circumstances which accompanied its progress, 
and. which prove what little reliance can be placed in some people 
who profess to be governed by principles of honor and truth. At 
the Session of eighteen hundred and thirty one a few individuals 
actuated not by the most laudable motives brought out Foster to 
defeat Mr. Grundy, but it was soon discovered that the Legislature 
were not disposed to fill the appointment so long before it became 
vacant. At the commencement of the called Session of eighteen 
hundred and thirty two, a vigorous effort was made by the friends 
of Grundy and Foster, and it was soon discovered, even by the 
partizans of the latter that the former would be elected. Under a 
full persuation of this truth they applied to and urged Major Eaton 
to suffer his name to be run with a full assurance that after ballot- 
ing a few times for Foster they would unite upon Eaton which 
would unquestionably elect him. Upon this assurance he suffered 
his name to be used and the result at that Session shewed how 
little faith was due to their promises. At the recent Session the 
same inducements were held out to him without the slightest in- 
tention of ever complying with their intimations or promises. lam 
informed by a gentleman in whose word I can confide that Judge 
Anderson promised on the morning of Mr. Grundys election that if . 
obliged to vote between Grundy and Eaton he would support the 
former. Indeed in the whole course of my acquaintance I know of 
no one in the stability of whose political friendship or sound prin- 
ciples on public measures I have less confidence than in Judge A. 
He is actuated by a restless ambition, is subject to the control of 
weak men, and as poor Darby was in the habit of saying of those he. 
disliked, he is wholly deficient in moral stamina. 

‘Judge Anderson and a few others were indisereet enough early 
in the Session to prepare resolutions to nominate Judge Hugh L. 
White for the next President. The under current was in motion 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 529 


for a few days, but subsided and I had believed that the friends 
oi the meastire had discreetly abandoned it. In that however I 
was mistaken. Ten days ago the measure was brought forward 
with increased energy, and persuasion and intreaty employed to 
insure its success. A few of us however took grounds against it 
and its friends had the mortification to find that they were placed 
in a small minority and reluctantly gave up their object. In the 
course. which I took on the subject I was actuated by no unkind 
feeling towards Judge White, but I considered it too early to bring 
the matter forward, and it seemed to me that delicacy should pre- 
vent Tennessee from taking the lead in the manifestation of her 
wishes. We have now the President, and by the ordinary course of 
events we have no right to expect a selection of another of our 
citizens in the next fifty years. Such a movement too in my humble 
judgement would in some degree have added to the embarrass- 
ment of the Administration, and produced distrust among its 
friends. In due time doubtless some course will be taken by the 
friends of the different aspirants to unite parties, and when that is 
the case it will be more becoming in Tennessee to follow than to 
lead. 

“We passed a resolution approving oi your course in relation to 
the removal of the deposits from the United States bank which I 
shall forward to you in a few days. 

“T have nothing to say about Judge making, but you will permit 
me to observe that the impression which prevails that Lacy will be 
appointed is very unacceptable to our Bar. I heard a conversation 
among several Lawyers a short time since, and among the ob- 
jections to Lacy was that of his relationship to Nathl. A. Mc. 
Nairy, who it was thought he would retain as clerk notwithstanding 
(as they alleged) his incapacity. This they did believe would not 
be done by any other person whose name is before you. 

“Tf nothing prevents it, I intend early in the spring to pay you 
a visit. 

“T shall be happy to hear from you when you have leisure to 
write a line. 

“Wishing you health and success, I am, dear Sir, 

“Sincerely your friend 
“Wim. Carroll. 
“His Excellency 
Andrew Jackson.” 
Washington City.” 


MAJOR H. LEE TO JACKSON. 


“Paris, December 27th, 1833. 
““My dear General, 
“When you reflect on my sincere respect and admiration for 
you, you may conceive the pain it causes me to say that I think 
you have treated me with neglect and injustice. 


3 


530 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘The printed notice, which you will find at the foot of this page, 
has recently come into my possession. It is from the U. S. Tele- 
graph of the 13th. March 1830, and bears an official authorised 
stamp. It says to the world that in nominating me for the incon- 
siderable appointment of Algerine Consul, you acted on the 
assurance of others, and not from any opinion or good will of your 
own and it protests in your name against your being held ac- 
countable for those “‘considerations’’ which had moved the Senate 
to reject the nomination. It makes you admit that you were very 
probably wrong in giving me the appointment, and the Senate in 
all probability right in taking it away and it expresses on your part 
at least perfect indifference in regard to me and my fate. Its 
meaning in short is. ‘“You may send Major Lee to the devil so 
that you let me alone.’’ If this interpretation of the paragraph be 
erroneous, pray have the goodness to correct it. 

‘““*Major Lee knows the account given in the Telegraph did not 
eminate from me and that I had shield(ed) his reputation from the 
shafts of ey cast upon him by his relations Rose & Robeson. 


“‘(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 

ii at your letter to me by Comre Porter in the June following, 
you observed. “I need not say to you the mortification I experienc- 
ed on your rejection by the Senate. When you return to your 
country you will be advised by whom, aided by all the opposition, 
this has been brought about. Your fellow citizens in the County 
of Westmoreland have addressed me upon this subject, which from 
their number and respectability is honourable to you and con- 
soling to me.”” This is preserved. 

“Tt is impossible for me to reconcile this language with that of 
the authorized announcement in the official paper. . But separated 
by a wide ocean from the theatre on which you were acting, I will 
not trust to my own imperfect judgment, and I beg the favour of 
you therefore to teach me how they can be made to agree. 

“T had a conversation with Mr. Van Buren in London on my 
rejection. It was introduced by himself, and though he did not 
acquaint me with character of the official notice, he informed me in 
substance that there had been some idea of publishing the testi- 
monials in my favour (which, had it been done and had the address 
of my generous fellow countrymen been included, could not have 
failed to revive my gasping reputation) but that it was discovered 
it would paint* Mr. Livingston(’s) cheek with shame, and it was 
out of tenderness for him forborne. 

“Again, this authorized paragraph, evidently gave the lead 
which Phil Barbour followed, and which so incensed and mortified 
me, that I mentioned my disgust at it in a letter to you, and made 
it the occasion of renouncing all claims to the patronage of “an 
administration which had given me a mark of its confidence. ’ 

“not true—(these two words are inserted at this point in 
Jackson’s hand). But I was wrong in blaming Mr. Barbour; he 
saw the President withdrawing in a formal notification, from all 


JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 1767-1848. 


United States Senator from Massachusetts 1803-1808; Minister to Russia 1809-1814; Minister to England 
1815-1817; President of the United States 1825-1829; Member of Congress 1931-1848. Copyright by Bureau 
of National Literature, Inc., New York. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 531 


concern or accountability about my nomination, and as a courtier 
if not as a politician, he was right to disclaim having had any con- 
cern in it himself. Further, this official notice, proved that I was 
totally mistaken in supposing I owed the appointment (contemp- 
tible as it really was when compared with the weight of my recom- 
mendations) to the favour or confidence of the administration; for 
it expressly and earnestly assures the world I owed it solely to ‘‘the 
conspicuous public men’’ who advised it. My renunciation there- 
fore was made on a grievous misapprehension of facts, and if it was 
taken literally, and could be fairly considered binding, may now 
that I am better informed, be fairly revoked. Accordingly I do 
hereby expressly revoke it, and I request that you will consider me 
as standing in the position in which I was placed by your letter of 
which an extract is above cited. 

“Encouraged by the kind and emphatical language of that 
letter, and by it alone, I requested in reply to it, to be made the 
bearer of the treaty which was to receive the ratification of the 
Porte. My request which could hardly be thought presumptuous 
was however worse than vain. It was treated with the contempt 
of silence. Months succeed months, seasons followed seasons, 
years have rolled away, but that silence continues unvaried. The 
trifling employment was given to another, upon whom a higher 
honour was accumulated, and who had been thrust into the place 
made vacant by my official murder before my mangled body was 
buried. 

“Who is this Mr. Livingston out of tenderness for whose blushes 
you suffered a proceeding to be witheld, and truth to be suppressed 
which could not have failed to prove “honourable to me and con- 
soling to my friends’? He is known to have committed an act 
which in reference to a case of less magnitude arid less atrocity, 
you have yourself in a solemn sentence declared unfits the per- 
petrator “to associate with the sons of chivalry and honour.” He 
is also known to have poached in the ample field of the Code Na- 
poleon, and there to have collected a clever system of Laws which he 
sold to the State of Louisiana. He did not nin away when he had 
you to back him in the plains of N. Orleans. He is further known 
to have procured by certain wearisome and vapid speeches in Con- 


_ gress, that sort of reputation which dilated dulness is sure to ac- 


quire at Washington. You are aware that he first advised you to 


nominate me, ate his letter of advice as a dog eats his vomit, and 


then voted for the rejection of the nomination which he had per- 
suaded you to make. For this double injury and barefaced dis- 
honour he could have had no reason, as he told Mr. Levitt Harris 
here that I had “fallen a victim to an intrigue of Tazewell’s.” 
This is the man whom you have selected as a specimen of American 
integrity and sent to salute the chivalry of Gaul. This is the man 
whom you have surfeited with office; whom you have allowed while 
he held the most important station in your gift at home, with an 
indecent voracity to keep another open for himself abroad, to 


532 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


bestow a subordinate but not a dependent one in the dower of 
his daughter; and with an odious nepotism to engraft upon his 
brother in law two incompatible employments. It is a pity yon did 
not complete the work of favouritism by making Livingston Sec- 
retary of the Treasury. It would have been a capital cousum- 
mation for an old defaulter.* And it would have shewn to advan- 
tage the intrepidity of your confidence in setting the fox to take 
care of the goose. At present this modest Livingston concern in 
Europe, represented by the trinity of the father, the son in law, and 
the brother in law, holds four distinct appointments, with more 
than **15,000 dollars of salary, and about as much of outfit, two 
of them when they ought to be in the United States, figuring in 
France to prove in spite of all high sounding declaration, that we 
will ezther ask what is not right or take what 1s wrong; and the third 
amusing himself in Italy when he is paid for being in Holland. One 
would suppose that our constitution required as many offices as 
possible to be centered in the same family, especially when it 
could be proved that the head of it had run off with a large sum of 
public money, and could also be proved that those persons, who 
like myself, had supposed time and circumstances had been able to 
improve his character, were mistaken. But this is no business of 
mine more than of any other citizen of the United States. I will 
confess however when I recollected how much you were mortified at 
my rejection, that the mission to Naples was a case in which the 
Senate if inclined could not have interfered; that I had asked for 
just such employment and was at Paris; that Davezac was already 
in full pay and duty in Holland,and to get to Naples had to come 
first to Paris. I thought it strange that you did not take the 
occasion of shewing some slight feeling of favour to me, and of 
your disposition to rescue me from the effect of the Senate’s pro- 
ceeding, which you described in your letter of June 1830, as “‘worse 
than the Spanish inquisition.” 

“While I was musing on this unpleasant subject I was greeted 
in the course of last summer with the unexpected intelligence that 
Robinson, the person who next to Livingston and in proportion to 
his means, had been most infamously concerned in the rejection of 
my nomination, was taken into pay and favour. 

Having been by this time somewhat inured to slight and mor- 
tification by your indifference to my application from Mahon, 


and its aggravation by my postponement to Davezac, I was able 


with the assistance of that contempt which the character of Robin- 
son inspires, to hear of this act of disregard for my feelings without 


“*Would the Major have gone without salary. D. got no 
adition. 
(sic) 
“**The records prove this to be false. 
“(The starred notes are in Jackson’s hand) 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 533 


much of other sentiment than disdain. I began to reflect on the 
treatment I had experienced from the day of your first inaugura- 
tion, and this natural process the notice in the Telegraph, which I 
have lately received, disposed me to continue. Seeing how my 
friends had acted towards me, I asked myself how my enemies 
would have behave. This was the course of my reflections.* ‘In 
case Mr. Adams had been elected instead of Gen. Jackson, and I 
had submitted to him the strong body of recommendations which I 
handed to Gen. Jackson, there cannot be a doubt, that with the 
desire he and Mr. Clay would have felt to detach from General 
Jackson a supporter, or to banish a foe of themselves, to gratify 
the powerful persons who recommended me, and to make a show 
of magnanimity in forgetting an enemy in a disposition to res- 
pect the memory of a revolutionary officer, he would have sent 
my name, for so in considerable an appointment, to the Senate. 
Had it been rejected, even without his connivance, there can be 
as little doubt that with indecent haste, and as if he had my suc- 
cessor ready provided, he would have supplied the vacancy by a 
fresh nomination. Further, supposing his disregard for my feel- 
ings to be uncommonly savage, he would have promptly announced 
in his official journal that it was “‘gratifying to know that the 
president’’ had not been personally concerned in my nomination, 
had acted on the assurances of others altogether, and was there- 
fore not answerable for the considerations which had induced the 
Senate to reject me. Had I been assured by Mr. Adams that he 
was greatly mortified at my miscarriage, and by such appearances 
oi interest and sympathy had been decoyed to ask merely to be sent 
as the bearer of a treaty, for the temporary object of obtaining its 
ratification; in case Mr. Adam’s enmity had been remarkably cold 
and malignant, he would have received my request with silent deri- 
sion. On thesupposition that there was art as wellasfuryin his hatred, 
that he remembered my exertions in favour of his rival and was mali- 
ciously determined on vengeance, he would have completed the work 
of injury with insult, and by distinguishing with patronage the per- 
sons chiefly instrumental in my down fall, would haveforced me to 
see, in their exaltation and favour, the depths of my own calamity 
and disgrace.’ Such is the way I reflected my bitterest enemy 
wouldhave acted; and I will leave it to you to say if he could have 
done worse. 

“In the meantime I have received from yourself directly, as 
well as through Major Lewis, assurances of the continuance of 
your private friendship. But I have reflected what the public 
would think, and have been apprehensive they would infer that I 


“*T never buy support, and from the above expose, altho all 
my acts of friendship was pure, I did not until now know that yours 
were all mercenary. 


“(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 


534 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


held a place neither in your recollection nor favour. They would 
it seems to me naturally observe that through the wilderness of 
conjecture you had opened a trace, from which no traveller could 
wander, that you had blazed it on one side with honours to Livings- 
ton, and notched it on the other with favour to Robinson,* and in 
the centre had marked it with a long furrow of neglect tome. They 
would say, “‘who can doubt it leads to scornful indifference; who 
can hesitate to believe that the President has ratified and riveted 
the Senate’s veto.’’ The letters of several of my friends shew that 
this reflection was not unnatural. 

‘“‘While I was thus ruminating on the sad aspect of my feelings 
and fortune, I received in July last a letter from Major Lewis 
in which he said—‘The General requests me to say he thinks you 
had better come home, and that he hopes it will be in his power 
still to do something for you notwithstanding the Senate’s veto.” 
This I felt as the unkindest cut of all. To compare small things 
with great, it was like George the 4th.when he heard Napoleon 
was dying at St. Helena in consequence of his cruelty, sending him 
word that his gracious Majesty regretted much to learn that 
General Bonaparte was indisposed! Of course before the royal 
sorrow could reach its pretended object, the betrayed and 
insulted victim was dead. It seemed to say, “‘Now that I 
have refused to do anything for you in Europe,* when I might have 
done it without neglecting anybody else, and without being ob- 
structed by the opposition of the Senate, I advise you to leave your 
work in Paris and take a voyage across the Atlantic, in hope that 
should an opportunity offer I may do something for you in Ameri- 
ca.” The precise date of it had nothing to soothe me. It told me” 
you had gratified my highest and lowest enemies, and then thought, 
by the involuntary suggestion of contrast, about me; and for fear I 
should ‘‘stink in the nostrils’ of Livingston the peculator, re- 
quired me to cross the sea and endure the effluvia of the beast 
Robinson. 

“Under all previous mortifications I had remained silent be- 
cause without self-abasement I could not allude to a subject which 
you had neglected to notice; but this strange message removed all 
restraint of the kind, and I wrote to**Major Lewis in reply ex- 
pressing surprise, and with some warmth of feeling, the sense I 
entertained of the treatment I had been subjected to. He thought 
my letter might give you pain, and considering it was not written 


‘“‘**T never heard of this letter. 

“*This is not true there was no time I could do any thing for 
him in Europe. To have sent him to Naples he must went to Lon- 
don. (sic) 

“*Robinson never was appointed by me. He shews just such 
a front as the confidential letters recd. in Tennessee now unfolds. 


‘(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 535 


for the purpose, declined shewing it to you. This I am glad of, 
for you are the last man living to whom I would wish to give pain, 
as you are the last man living from whom I expected to receive it. 
I substitute therefore this letter for that and to confirm the re- 
sponsibility if there be any in speaking the truth, to myself alone, 
address it directly to yourself. 

*To escape from the conviction that I have been subjected 
by you to ill treatment, I have sometimes thought you might 
have doubted my capacity for such appointments as you would 
have been willing to offer me. But I have been hedged in by the 
certainty that you could not consider me inferior to Mr. Vail or 
Mr. Niles, or Mr. Daniel, whose only claim to be a successor to 
Pinkney consists in the stern fact and the modest dignity of his 
refusal, or to that other darling whom you fished up from the 
desk of a dead miser, and the bottom of the Philadelphia bar, to 
place in the seat which was once filled by Alexander Hamilton! 
But scarcely had this admirable son of a venerable sire been en- 
clasped in your official embraces, before the Globe of the 19th. 
November announced to the world, what the world knew very 
well before, ‘“‘that he was totally unjit for the station to which he had 
been elevated.”” I had ‘“‘authority” as well as example therefore 
for supposing, without referring to your first Cabinet, that no 
fastidiousness on the score of talents had averted your eyes from 
me.* 

“Major Lewis thinks I have been remarkably well treated; 
assures me that you told Robinson in his presence that ‘Dr. Rose 
for the part he took in defeating my nomination deserved to have a 
millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the middle of the 
Potowmac, and that those who were concerned with him deserved 
no better treatment.’ Now as the word those must have included 
Robinson himself, your conduct and language to this person, 
seem almost as irreconcilable as your language and conduct to me. 
“You have behaved Sir so infamously to Major Lee that you richly 
deserve to be drowned like a sheep-killing dog, and therefore I 
shall consent to your being employed as a clerk in the War office, 
though I know you are neither fit nor wanting for the place, and 
although by so doing, I shall aggravate the injury you did to Major 
Lee of whom I call myself the friend.” 

“Major Lewis, who seems to be of opinion that it was very 
natural as you pronounced Robinson fit for the gallows, that you 
ought to honour him with place and pay, further assures me, that 
if I have appeared to be neglected it was only by inadvertance, 


“*Duane’s capacity was vouched for by as touring talents 
as Major Lees. (sic) 


“(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 


536 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


and in appearance, not in reality;* and that you speak of me “‘in 
the most affectionate terms.”’ He forgets that neglect and the 
likeness of neglect are one and the same thing, neglect being not 
positive injury but the likeness of it; and that continued inad- 
vertence is advertence. If a man who is accounted your friend 
treads on your toes on one occasion, you may well suppose it to be 
an inadvertence; but if on all occasions he treads on your toes and 
is at the same time particularly attentive to your particular ene- 
mies, I defy you to imagine that he does it unintentionally. 

“As to the “‘affectionate terms,” they both gratify and flatter 
me. But still as actions are more significant than words, if you 
will make me Minister at Paris or London or even an inferior place, 
you may withold the affectionate terms, and may even say in the 
presence of Major Lewis or the immortal Robinson, that I deserve 
to have a millstone tied around my neck and thrown into the middle 
of the Potowmac, more especially if you will make my nephew 
Secretary of Legation, and pay my brother handsomely for staying 
at one place and going to another at the same time. 

“Take away from Livingston his offices, lopp off the odious 
nepotism which shoots in foul suckers around him, write him an 
encouraging and emphatical letter, and then keep him for three or 
four years on cool neglect, and a strict’ ragimen of “‘affectionate 
terms”’ blistering him all the while with attention and favour 
either lavishly conferred or quietly bestowed on his principal 
enemies; and then ask him how he relishes your course of treatment. 
If he will tell you he is greatly pleased, I will swear that I am highly 
delighted at the manner in which I have dealt with. . 

‘To come to the point. I think you ought to have done some- 
thing for me if you could, that at any rate as you could have sent me 
to Naples, *you should in justice if not in kindness have done so, 
and that your neglect, gives me now a stronger right to expect 
that you will do something for me, even than your letter by Comre 
Porter did. I know it may be said there is a stain on my reputation 
which may create obstructions that I alone am accountable for, 
and that you are not bound to encounter. But this was known to 
you before you gave me the appointment from which I was ejected, 
and before you wrote me the letter by Comre Porter reprobating 
any reference to that as an act of cruelty and injustice, not inferior 
to the atrocities of the Spanish inquisition. Besides the character 
of Mr. Jefferson, whose persevering attempt of 14 years upon the 


“*His name I could not return to the Senate as his moral 
sic 
ee a been made the cause of rejection. 
“(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 
““*Naples he could not have been sent to without going before 
the Senate. 
“(The starred note is in Jackson’s hand) 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 537 


wife of his friend exceeds my transgression in moral guilt, let who 
will compare them, is the object of your especial homage; and you 
have endowed Livingston with half the Republic, whose conduct 
was such as to exclude him according to your own promulgated 
rule, from association with the sons of chivalry and honour. I 
cannot think therefore you are entitled to abandon me, though a 
secret enemy or a lukewarm friend might endeavor to prevail on 
you to do so. Mr. Niles it seems has lately been nuzling about 
Washington for the Consulate here. He told me Mr. Blair said 
there was a thought of sending me to Egypt as Charge d’ affaires, 
Major Lewis writes me as executive agent only. I suppose it prob- 
able that the Egyptian expedition in any shape is very unlikeiy 
to happen and that Mr. Niles was kind enough to mention it to me, 
with a view to keeping my eyes off of the Paris Consulate. As you 
yourself referred to the subject of doing something for me, I hope 
there is no indelicacy in my answering that I should be pleased to 
go to Egypt as Charge d’ affaires, but should prefer being Consul 
here (if Mr. Brent does not come out) to being sent to Egypt as 
executive agent only. It may be great presumption in me to com- 
pete with Mr. Niles who is backed by Mr. Rives, though I am not 
yet perfectly convinced that your friends ought to be postponed to 
the friends of persons who were once your enemies. My qualifica- 
tions of good for any thing are equal to those of Niles, and he lost 
his office by its natural death; I was ejected from mine most violent- 
ly. Yet I shall not be disappointed if I am put aside for Mr. Niles. 


“Mr. Rives was among the persons who recommended my ap- 
pointment to Algiers. He will probably suppose me fit for the 
mission to Egypt or the Consulate here; and as two Livingstons 
would be too much for one age, it may be presumed that with the 
Westmoreland address, which has been so closely preserved he 
would support my nomination in either case. Seeing that you 
were not disposed to ratify their former injustice, the Senate would 
hardly think it worth while again to interfere in a matter of such 
little consequence. Mr. Niles told me he had conversed with an 
opposition Senator on the subject who said he should not vote 
against me. He did not mention the name, nor did I enquire it. 


“Before finishing this letter allow me to say that I think as I 
long have done of your character, your achievements, your in- 
flexible patriotism and devoted sense of duty; I remember your 
silver locks and the garlands of martial and civic honour with 
which they are justly crowned, my enthusiasm as a citizen disposes 
me to keep buried in silence my discontents as a man, but for the 
thought that it is you by whom I have been unjustly neglected. 
Could I dislike or despise you I should be comparatively easy. 

“Should this representation also be neglected, should a studied 
and ostentatious indifference be again observed, a sense of injury 
may at last overpower the sentiments which I have so ardently 
cherished, and I shall fall like a tree, which after standing long 


538 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


against the whetted axe, trembles to and fro in the uncertain air; 
feels the last stroke; quivers through all its branches; and is hurled 
to the ground. 

“If I thought the truth would in this case offend you, my feel- 
ings are so deeply and rightfully concerned that I should not 
suppress it. But you cannot expect me to be dumb, to be torpid, 
while a hand which has often in friendship been extended to me is 
infixing the bolts of private malice and of public scorn, deeper and 
deeper, into my prostrate character and excruciated feelings. You 
can scarcely wish while you are kindling around me a circle of fire, 
and making every word I ever uttered in your vindication or praise, 
fuel to exasperate the heat and inflame the torment, that I should 
remain as silent as you were upon receiving my letter from Mahon. 

“In what I have said about Robinson let me not be under- 
stood to deprecate in itself your bounty to him. That he has a- 
bused and begged you at the same time I know; but he can never 
be made an object of more than contempt to me. A brute by in- 
stinct though a man in form, he is naturally to be avoided by 
rational beings. But where gentlemen have a taste for caress- 
ing such animals, I have no taste for interfering with their amuse- 
ment. He is said to be poor, his family are not like himself, in all 
human probability; and therefore if the ignominy which his adop- 
tion reflects on my neglect be removed, I shall be glad to hear that 
both he and Dr. Rose have employment. If I could entertain 
other sentiments in such a case, particularly as my wife has the mis- 
fortune to be related to these persons, and as the mother of Dr. 
Rose is poor, and being his mother is not fortunate; I should fur- 
nish an instance of meanness which has not yet been discovered in 
the wide compass of human nature; not even in the conduct of the 
man upon whom you have showered the torrent of your favour, 
nor in the character of the person upon whom you have shed the 
dews of your forgiveness. 

“T remain dear General still your 
“attached friend, 


“Fi. Hee: 
“TS 
The President of the 
United States. 
“RICHARD RUSH TO JACKSON. 
“London September 26. 1836 
“Dear Sir: 


“I write by this conveyance to the Secretary of State, imparting 
to him for your information all that I have to say as yet on the 
public object you, were pleased to charge me with. I need not 
therefore trouble you with that topic now, simply remarking that 
I shall follow it up with a diligence and care that will be always 
heightened by the desire I feel to justify your confidence. 


a 


ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE History 539 


“T crossed the sea with Mr. Eaton and family, who added much 
to the pleasantness of a good passage in a fine ship. The former 
I had known and respected as a public man, but it was during a 
sea-voyage that his solid, unostentatious worth unfolded itself in 
ways I had not before known; and if the accident of having been 
with him under such circumstances should gain me a portion of 
his friendship, I shall think myself fortunate. His wife and daugh- 
ters were the life of the cabin, rendering many an hour that would 
have been tedious, cheerful and springtly. They are all well and 
still here, finding difficulty hitherto in getting to Spain by a con- 
veyance suitable for them all. 

“Of the recent political movements in that country, greatly 
important as they seem to be, or the ministerial changes in France, 
not less so perhaps, I dare not trust myself to speak at this junc- 
ture, although you kindly gave me permission to write to you. 
Your lights for judging of them all will be far better than mine. 
To my limited view it does not seem that the Carlist party in Spain 
is likely to be beaten very soon; indeed with the majority of the 
people out of the towns siding with it, and the priests too, which 
would seem the case by the best accounts I can get at in this quart- 
er, I do not well see how this party is to be effectually kept under, 
notwithstanding its antiquated and arbitrary principles. 

“England is tranquil just now and prosperous, crops on the 
whole good, commerce flourishing, and the orders for manufac- 
tures in many of the great towns and manufacturing districts said 
to be active and abundant. May her government not fail to do us 
justice for that most unwarrantable seizure of our slaves at New 
Providence. 

“TI wait with solicitude the issue of our fall elections, especially 
in Pennsylvania. I see the clearest proof to my mind in the daily 
London papers that the agents of the bank are at work against us 
in them, in the hope of strengthening their bad cause by an at- 
tempted show of opinion in its favor here; an additional motive 
why that whole party should be overset with all its dangerous 
plans and policy. My son writes me that Mr. Van Buren has 
written a long and excellent letter on several of the great questions 
of the day, which however has not yet rached this country but 
may be expected daily. 

“Hoping that this may find you in good health, and asking my 
compliments to the ladies of your family, Major Donalson and 
Col. Earle, I remain, dear Sir, with the highest respect and cordial 
attachment 


“Your obliged friend and servt — 
“Richard Rush. 


“General Jackson 
President of the United States. 


540 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


R. B. TANEY TO JACKSON. 


“Baltimore Oct. 15. 1836. 
“Private. 
““My Dear Sir: 

“T received your letter this morning and sincerely rejoice to 

find that you propose giving to your countrymen a parting address. 
I concur entirely in your suggestion that it should be the last act of 
your political life not form a part of your annual message. The 
topics which you propose to introduce in it, ought not to be mixed 
up with the ordinary and every day business of the Government, 
which necessarily forms a part of the annual message. Your Fare- 
well address should be exclusively devoted to those great and en- 
during principles upon which our institutions are founded, and 
without which the blessings of freedom cannot be preserved. It 
will be an invaluable legacy to your countrymen, it will be received 
with the most affectionate confidence and gratitude and its in- 
fluence will be felt in future ages as well as in the present. I repeat 
that I sincerely rejoice to find that you have thought of it, and trust 
that you will carry it into execution. Any services that I can ren- 
der will be given with real pleasure. I set out tomorrow morning 
to hold a circuit Court at Dover in Delaware, and shall I presume 
be absent about a week. But the subject of your address will now 
be constantly in my mind, and if you determine to deliver it at the 
close of your political life, it will give me more time to deliberate 
on it, and to make suggestions as to its form and substance more 
worthy of your consideration. 
And as I hope you will determine to adopt that course I propose to 
prepare my notions on the subject and bring them with (me) when 
I come to the Supreme Court in the beginning of January. I shall 
then have frequent opportunities of seeing you and of learning 
your wishes in all the details of this most interesting matter. If 
however you prefer having my suggestions at an earlier day have the 
goodness to let me know. The Circuit Court for Maryland will 
commence in the beginning of November and will last perhaps two 
or three weeks. But I shall be out of Court during the whole of 
December. Yet if necessary I will find time to attend to your 
wishes during the session of the Circuit Court. 


‘‘Allow me to congratulate you on the auspicious results of the 
Pennsylvania Elections. At the present time and under present 
circumstances the elections of that State were more important to 
the cause of freedom than they have ever been before or can ever 
perhaps be again. They furnish a proud evidence of the spirit, 
the independence and the purity of the freemen of that State, and 
give a new assurance that they will never barter their liberties for 
money nor shrink before the frowns of the moneyed aristocracy. 
The same spirit will I doubt not be found to prevail in the great 


pce oll /Q, ey /ie4, 
A; 


biti of Me [3h of Secembie. litt! eg 
Sa AteLe f trsensinnt had 
ye a “espe wy, hetarn of ~ 
Pe poe ee Pd hfe 
te tea letake  Semnefye. Vie Lid. 
poe SPAT compliect Wik pe 
her het In ate vox fefeor 5 beet Spill 
es 7 beh LE ifjncet Phe as: 
Lin yd You Bctiareneer 3 2 ie My Ga i 
leshet Que | ES ee ros 


Mee 


Le ff the V HAF 


Autograph Letter of Gov. John Sevier to President Thomas Jefferson. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 541 


majority of the people of the United States, and congratulating 
you on the bright prospects of our country which you so largely 
contributed to produce. 
“T am Dear Sir 
with the Highest respect 
Your friend and obt. St. 
“R. B. Taney. 
“Andrew Jackson 
“President of the United States 
““Washington.”’ 


R. B. TANEY TO JACKSON. 


“Baltimore Oct. 27. 1836. 
“My Dear Sir: 

“T received your letter on my return from Delaware and my 
suggestions on the subject of your Farewell address shall certainly 
be ready by the Ist. of January. 

“Tt is with the sincerest pleasure that I continue to witness the 
success of your measure. The Treasury order in relation to pay- 
ments for the public lands has I doubt not saved the west from a 
scene of Bankruptcy and ruin which was rapidly preparing for 
them. And its beneficial effects have also been felt in the Atlantic 
States, for it induced their banks to adopt a more cautious policy 
sooner than they would otherwise have done, and they are by that 
means better able at this time to meet the calls which must come 
upon the. I am convinced that the pressure now complained of 
would have been far more severe if that order had not been issued. 

“The situation of the money market in England and the pre- 
cautionary measures adopted there would no doubt be felt in some 
degree in this country under any circumstances. But a great 
pressure must sooner or later have taken place here even if the 
money concerns of England had continued perfectly easy. The 
main cause of the evil here is unquestionably the sudden and ex- 
orbitant increase of the paper currency and this evil had its origin 
and foundation in the immense increase of its issues by the Banks 
of the U. States, in the last months of its existence, and which 
produced as such a course on their part always has done and always 
will do, a corresponding expansion by the State Banks. The 
necessary consequence of these over issues and excessive entension 
of credit and of Bank accomodations was to create a rage for wild 
and mad speculations, which in the nature of things, unless checked 
in some way or other, must grow worse and worse and extend wider 
and wider, until it will bear no further expansion, and then the 
bubble bursts and min follows. I firmly believe that the Bank of 
the U. States has designedly contributed as far as it could to 
produce this state of things for the purpose of influencing the ap- 
roaching election o_._ President, and I am convinced that it will 
now be found adding with all its might to the existing pressure by 
demanding specie from the State Banks wherever it has the power 


542 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE HISTORY 


to do so. It has not yet abandoned its designs, nor delayed its 
efforts to obtain the control of the General Government. The 
Deposite Bill of the last session which was so earnestly supported 
by the friends of the Bank, has certainly added a good deal to the 
present distress in the money market. The greater part of the ° 
surplus revenue had been loaned to merchants in the commercial 
cities, and the mere transfer of it from the Banks which had loaned 
it out, to other Banks in the same city withdrew it at once from 
the hands that had borrowed it, and for a time indeed necessarily 
withdrew it from commercial operations. For the Banks to which 
it was transferred would not in a single day or a single week dis- 
count upon the whole amount thus received, especially as a large 
portion of what they have received must soon be again transferred 
to the several states who may chuse to deposite it with other agents. 
Indeed it is the mercantile community, who had been the bor- 
rowers of the greater part of the surplus, that suffer most from 
this Deposite Law. The newspapers under their influence were 
the most clamorous for the measure and they are now reaping 
its bitter fruits. However it is but a repetition of the folly they 
committed in 1833—’4—in which they were the principal sufferers 
from their own efforts to create a panic. Then they attempted to 
throw the blame of the pressure on the removal of the Deposites 
from the Bank of the U. States—and now they attempt to throw 
it on the Treasury order in relation to the public land. There 
is no more foundation for the one, than there was for the other. In 
both cases they are the chief authors of their own difficulties, and 
they are obviously as a class more easily led astray by their political . 
leaders than any other class of our citizens. ‘The currency will 
however be always liable to these ruinous fluctuations while it con- 
tinues to be of paper and nothing will cure the evil but the success 
of your great plan of restoring the Constitutional currency of 
Gold and Silver. I had hoped that the State Governments would 
have seen their true interests and have entered more promptly and 
effectually upon the work of reformation. But I now fear that 
their general co-operation will hardly be obtained from the in- 
fluence exercised in some of them by the paper making corporations 
and speculators; and that it will become necessary for Congress to 
take some measures which may effectually prevent the issues of 
small notes. The currency will not be entirely stable until no note 
under twenty dollars can be issued and for ‘my own part I should 
prefer to go up gradually to fifty. 

‘““We rejoice to learn from your last letter that Mrs. Donelson 
is so much better—and that Major Donelson and Mr. and Mrs. 
Jackson are again with you. Mrs. Taney and the girls unite with 
me in offering our best wishes to you and to them. 

“And I am Dear Sir 
with the Highest respect 
Po most truly your friend 
“Andrew Jackson “R. B. Taney. 
“President of the United States. 
“Washington.” 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 543 


REV. A. D. CAMPBELL TO JACKSON. 


“Washington 15th. March 1837. 
“Dear Friend: 
“A few minutes ago I arrived at this place in order to see you, 
but with great regret I found you left this in the morning. 
“Information came to us at Pittsburgh yesterday that you 
would not be here till this evening, in this way I failed seeing you; 
which to me is a matter of great regret. Whether we shall ever 
meet again, is only known to an all Wise God. Mrs. Campbell’s 
health is very delicate. Enclosed you will find a note which you 
can peruse, and act in a way which your sense of duty will dictate. 
Give my respects to Capt. Donaldson, tell him I sympathize with 
him in his afflictions. Remember me to you. 
“T am Your friend 
“A. D. Campbell. 
““(Endorsed:) 
From the Revd. A. D. Campbell 
—When health permits to be 
answered—My funds are very 
low—I returned with barely 
$90.in our pocketts. 
Bacon for the family and 
corn and oats for the stock 
to buy. The new roof of my 
house just rebuilt, leaking and 
to be repaired. I carried 
$5000 when I went to Washington, 
it took of my Cotton crop 
$2250 with my salary to bring 
me home, the burning of my house 
and furniture has left me poor. 
AR 


ANDREW JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage April 18th. 1837. 
“My dear Sir, 

“Your friendly, and welcome letter of the 6th. instant, reached 
me yesterday, it gave us all much pleasure, as it informed us that 
you and your amiable wife, and daughter, were in the enjoyment of 
that choicest blessing,—good health. May you and them long con- 
tinue to enjoy that greatest of earthly blessings. 

“I do hope that there are no troubles which can present them- 
selves that the Globe cannot easily surmount, altho we may sin- 
cerely regret when any of our friends become apostates from their 
long proiessed principles and republican actions. We who take 
“principle for our guide, and public good our end’’, cannot hesitate 
upon our course, that is to persue our principles and expose the 
apostate be he whom he may, and particularly, one, in whose re- 


544 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


publican principles we so much confined, and from his profession, 
we had so great right to confide,—and for whom so much had been 
done, as for Mr. Andrew Stevenson,—he, if the facts stated of him 
be true, it is a duty you owe your country to expose, and lay his 
apostacy bare and naked before the public. Should Mr. Stevenson 
not come boldly out and deny Mr. Bates’ statement, then he is a fit 
subject to be exposed by the Globe and by every true republican. 


“The present is an important crisis in our national affairs, 
the attempt by Biddle and the Barings, to take into their keeping 
the management of the currency, both in England and America, is 
too alarming to every true republican and under these circum- 
stances, if Stevenson has attempted by his declarations and con- 
versation to encourage this system of fraud upon the American 
people, which leads directly to the recharter of the United States 
Bank and the destruction of our republican institutions, he ought, 
and must be exposed openly and fearlessly; therefore, I cannot but 
approve the course the Globe has taken in this matter and only 
hope that Mr. Stevenson, for his own sake, and the honor of his 
country, has been misrepresented by Mr. Bates the partner of the 
Barings. But if in this, we should be mistaken, then it is your 
duty as a faithful sentinel to expose the apostate with all your 
powers, and make him loath himself for the apostacy—this is the 
only way by which you can reform him, and deter others from 
such a course—particularly at this time when the whole money 
power is called into action to destroy our government by the cor- 
rupting means of the paper system. I say, lay on, temporise not, 
it 1s always injurious. 

“T trust by this, you have all seen the value of the Treasury 
order to the safety of the Revenue—all the people I mean the specu- 
lators and borrowers, in Mississippi and Alabama are broke. Their 
Bank paper at New Orleans and Nashville as I am informed are 
from ten to 15 per cent below par and going down. Negroes at 
Sheriffs sale that cost 1800 and 1000 a short time since. Iam in- 
formed are now selling at 300 women and 500 for men. Would 
it not prostrate the Executive Government to be selling their 
domain for such trash. I have been conversing with David Craig- 
head Esqr—Senator in our State Legislature, who has just returned 
from Arkansas and Mississippi—he says that the Treasury order 
was a great godsend to the country, that nothing but this saved 
the country from total Bankruptcy and of course the Banks. It 
is very doubtful whether some of the Banks will not fail—if the 
House of Hill, of Nashville, and Ducks of N. Orleans go, several 
of the Banks must go with them. The Banks at Nashville the other 
day advanced to Hill 319,000 when the best endorsed paper by 
any other could not obtain a discount for 2500. This is a hand- 
some comment upon the system of Banking. I have done my duty 
to my country and my God, have given my opinion freely as to the 
Treasury order, and in truth can say as far as I am informed and 
believe, that with the great body of the people the Treasury order 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 545 


is the most popular, as well as the most just, (it keeps our coin at 
home) of any of my official acts. I thought it absolutely necessary 
at the time, and its continuation imperious now, for the safety of 
the revenue, and prosperity of the present administration. ‘This 
you are at liberty to say to all concerned—the gamblers and specu- 
lators in and’ out of Congress, unite with the opposition to deny it. 
None else you may rely on it. 

“My health is slowly improving but it varies with our late 
variable weather. We have had it as hot as in May, and again 
very cold with frost and ice. A frost on yesterday which has cut, 
down the corn, killed our early potatoes, and I think all the fruit, 
and I am now suffering with a sore throat and severe cough with a 
return of the old complaint in the side. But my dear Sir how grate- 
ful I am to you and your amiable lady for your kind solicitude for 
my health. Say to Mrs. Blair, I found my cattle poor but otherwise 
a fine Stock, and I intend to rear for her a real short horned, but 
before I can give it, you and she must come to see us, with your dear 
Elisa and your sons if with you. 

“Our dear little ones have been unwell with bad colds. Rachel 
is constantly talking about you all—she says, she knows Mrs. Blair 
will not forget her and Andrew, because she cut off a lock of each of 
their hair, and she is shure she never will forget Mrs. Blair because 
she looks at the shawl every day that Mrs. Blair gave her. My 
whole Household cordially unite with me in kind salutations to 
you and yours and prayers for your wellfare and happiness and be- 
lieve me your sincere friend, 


“Andrew Jackson. 
“F. P. Blair Esqr. 

“P. S. I wish you to write me often and I pray you to have 
the journals of the proceedings of Wise and Goodlows (?) com- 
mittees sent on to me, if not already forwarded. Proceed with the 
Globe in your old fearless manner, and you will succeed, but no 
temporising or you are all lost, rely on this. 

“Say to Governor Woodbury, with my kind regards accom- 
panied with that of all my family, that I have recd his letter with 
the enclosure, for which I thank him, and the first day I am able, 
will write him—present me kindly to the president, Mr. Butler, 
M. Forsythe, Mr. Kendall and Mr. Poinset and their families LAS 
“N. B. I have presented your kind regards to Mary Donelson 
and read your note to her. The Major and children desire to be 
presented to you all in the kindest manner. 

ANDREW JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 
“Hermitage April 24th. 1837. 
“My Dear Sir, 

“Your letter of the 10th. instant is just recd—your former 
letter came safely to handjand was replied to in full by me to which 
I refer you. The Treasury order will be found in the end to have 
saved the deposit Banks and the revenue. It may be before this 

35 


546 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


reaches you that the Mississippi Banks may have suspended specie 
payments. If Hill of Nashville, and Duks of New orleans fails, 
the Nashville Banks goes with them—great exertions are making 
by the Nashville Banks to save there Houses—it is said upwards of 
million has been advanced to them by their Banks, when no one 
else can get a single discount—this is enough to shew the corrup- 
tion of the paper system, and if the administration acts wisely and 
retains in force the Treasury order—the people, the real working 
classes, the great bone and sinew of this union, will it, and drive 
from circulation all notes under 20 if not under 50. 

“T have done my duty—my only anxiety now is for the success 
of the present administration—but if it listens to Biddle and his 
satellites—becomes alarmed, and under the panic endeavoured to 
be raised by Biddle and his corrupt mercenary merchants, who are 
endeavouring to deprive the country of its specie and adopt the 
paper system as a currency in open violation of the constitution 
and the destruction of the labour of the country, it will fall. If 
the administration follows the wishes of the people—introducing 
with all its energy and power the constitutional currency, gold and 
silver coin, it will succeed and our country be prosperous. If it 
does not, it will be hurled from the confidence of the people, and 
lost. Remember the panic I passed thro, the present will pass 
away as soon as all the over traders, gamblers in stocks, and lands, 
are broke. Hundreds are yet to fail, remember what I told you 
about the time I issued the Treasury order. Some of our senators 
and their connections are yet, I fear, to fail. The Banks cannot 
save them. Negroes are down in Alabama and Mississippi from 
$1000, to $400 and 300, this at sheriffs sale. It is my opinion that 
50 million would scarcely relieve these two states and no person 
here will receive their notes and the woodcutters will not let the 
steam boats have their wood for their notes. You will now see the 
real virtue of the treasury order. It is the only safety for the re- 
venue and the only thing that can save the Banks. 

“TI have no copy of my nomination of the minister to Texas, but 
the President can furnish it or perhaps Mr. Forsyth may have a 
copy, his clerk copied it. 

“All my household join me in prayers for the happiness of 
you and yours, write me ofter—and if you know the conclusion 
about the treasury order, give me the result confidentially—and 
whether the E. counsel are divided, and if so how yours 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“PP. Blair Esqri”’ 
ANDREW JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage June Sth. 1837. 
“My dear Sir: 

“It has been some time since I wrote you and since I heard from 
you or any of the heads of Departments. I began to fear that you 
were all struck dumb by the present panic & pressure but my 
f2ars were disapated by the receipt of a letter from Mr. Van Buren 
which evinces firmness and good spirits 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 547 


“An undeviating firm course, no temporising, and all will be 
well. 

“You know I hate the paper system, and believe all Banks to 
be corruptly administered, there whole object to make money and 
like the aristocratic mérchants if money can be made alls well, 
regardless of the injury to the people or the Government. 

“The Government ought to seperate itself from all Banks, un- 
less those of Deposit, & Exchange—and as all have forfeighted 
their charters, I hope none will be legallised to issue paper under 
$50, or at least $20. 

“IT am quite unwell today, but as I was writing to Mr. Van 
Buren in answer to his, I take my pen to say to you, write & give 
me your opinion of the measure in view to be recommended to the 
called session of Congress. 

“The Whigs will make a dead set for a charter of Biddles, er 
a national Bank and I am told our friend Major Lewis whilst in 
Nashville was urging the necessity, but in my presence, altho the 
subject was named, he was silent. It is a misfortune to an ad- 
ministration, to have its officers operating against it silently, they 
do more injury this way, than openly. 

“Sarah, Andrew & the children with Col. Earle all join me 
in kind regards to you & yr family are all well but the old Lady is 
with Sarah awaiting the troubling of the waters. I will in a few 
days send you my review of Judge Whites testimony, if the Editor of 
the Union keeps sober long enough. We are distrayed for the want 
of a sober talented Editor, & our public men appear, somehow, 
to be paralised. The rest of my life is retirement & ease, still I 
cannot in times like these, be silent, I must speak. Write soon & 
believe me 


“Yr friend 
“Andrew Jackson. 
‘Francis P. Blair Esqr. 


“P. S. Say to Mrs. Blair that Rachel still recollects her. 
The boy grows finely, if you see Mrs. Forsyth say so to her with 
all our regards. 


“P.S. We have been in a gloom until 8 days past about our crops, 
nothing like this spring have I ever seen, our cotton seed lay 
seven weeks without vegetating, many has plowed it up & 
planted corn. Our corn did not grow, had the appearance of 
dying—although we had a fine season & from Frost turned 
very warm. Our cotton came up & I have never before seen 
such a growth. In 8 days came up & has 4 leaves & corn 
growing finely and good prospects of plenty of corn & oats 
and gives us all cheering countenances. 


Ah 


9 


548 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


RICHARD RUSH TO ANDREW JACKSON. 


“London August 12, 1837. 
“Dear Sir: “ 

“The Earl of Clarendon, an amiable and excellent nobleman, 
and possessing an accomplished and enlightened mind, endeared 
himself to me when I was formerly in this country, by his constant 
liberality and good will towards ours on occasions when either 
could be manifested, although, I must add, that he is of the con- 
servative or tory party in England—without however taking any 
active part in politics. During my present visit, I find the same 
feelings in him towards our country, and expericence renewals 
of the personal kindness I formerly had from him. He has a high 
respect for your character, and has been not an inattentive ob- 
server of American events during your administration; which, I am 
sorry but forced to say, is not very frequently the case with persons 
of his peculiar position and rank in English society. In my inter- 
course with him, we have oftern spoken of you. He is now not far 
from 80, yet walks all about his country estate, where I have been 
to’see him, and enjoys his friends at table and otherwise as if he 
were 40—as I hope, my dear Sir, you may long be able to do. . His 
philosophic nature and principles lead him to be opposed to duell- 
ing, and he has adopted the opinion that you will prevent it in the 
United States. The plan he has in view is contained on the paper 
I enclose. I have ventured to intimate my fears to him as to 
its practicability in the present state of the world, and above all 
whilst the state of manners in Europe keeps the custom up; but I 
feel sure that you will receive kindly whatever comes with such 
good intentions and from so pure a source. I have also enclosed 
his letter to me, as in part explanatory of his opinions. It is not 
his wish that his plan should be published, but I take pleasure in 
transmitting it, if for no other reason than that it enables me to 
write to you again so soon after my letter of last month. 

“The English elections are nearly over, with a gain, as far as ~ 
yet known, to the conservative strength. 

“But this and ever thing else abroad, must now be lost sight 
of with Americans in the peculiar interest of our own public affairs. 
At this foreign point, I hear so much and exclusively of the bank’s 
power, and its English connexions and our travelling whigs join in 
making such a clamor about what it is to do when the exra session 
of congress assembles in September, that sometimes I am a little 
uneasy; but will never seriously believe, unless unhappily I should 
see it come to pass, that our country will consent to bow its neck to 
so stock-jobbing a race. I long to be back again for the mere sake 
of contributing my mite towards the resolute contest that must be 
waged against it in every shape and form. 

“Sincerely hoping that this may find you in good health, I 
remain, dear Sir, with the highest respect, and constant renewals 
of attachment. 

“Most faithfully yours 
““General Jackson.”’ “Richard Rush. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 549 


BENJAMIN F. BUTLER TO JACKSON. 


“New York March 16th. 1839. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T cannot allow the accompanying official letter to go without 
some recognition of the ancient, and I trust, perpetual ties which 
have heretofore connected us. 

“You may be very sure, that I am alive to every thing that con- 
cerns your happiness; and that nothing gives me more pleasure than 
to hear of your good health & personal comfort. It has been to 
me & to my family, as well as to many thousands of your friends, 
a very great source of gratification, that in your retirement, you 
have felt it your privilege & duty to take upon you the sacred re- 
lations you have recently assumed. Believe me, that it made my 
heart beat with joy, to receive the intelligence of this step. I hope 
it will be the means, not only of great good to yourself, but of good 
also to the world. 

“T have not time to add more than that my family, or rather 
those at home, my eldest boy being in Europe, are all well; and to 
present my kind remembrances to your whole household, and also * 
to Major Donelson. 

“T am as always, faithfully 
“Your friend 
“B. F. Butler. 
“General Andrew Jackson 
“Nashville.” 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage June 5th. 1839. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T have recd. your letters of the 20th. and 26th. of May last, 
and hasten to reply. I rejoice in your good spirits, and the pleasing 
prospects in Virginia. The cause of republicanism is gaining every- 
where and we look to the elections in August next in Tennessee 
with pleasing anticipations of victory. The election of the Gov- 
ernor and a majority to Congress, with a republican majority in the 
Legislature. The cause of the people will triumph, modern Whigg- 
ery is on the decline and will soon die the death of the wicked. 

“I hope as you have recd. my letter, my deposition has reached 
the clerks office safe. Major A. J. Donelsons is with it and I hope 
you will find it in due form, regular and full answers to all the in- 
terrogations. 

“I sincerely thank you for the correction of that unwarrant- 
able statement on oath of Old Ringgold. There never was more 
gross falsehoods than he has stated. Governor had my deposition 
taken. But as it did not suit him and give the negative to all 
which it appears Ringgold has deposed to, Mr. Butler writes me the 
Governor would not produce it. What a set of villians we were 
surrounded with in Washington—fair exteriors with daggers in 


550 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HiIsToRY 


their hearts, no wonder then that the confiding Barry fell a victim 
to their treachery and dishonesty. Even Mayo, that the Secretary 
of War and myself kept literally from starving, under the appear- 
ance of friendship, purloined my confidential letter, handed it to 
Adams to do me an injury. This will recoil upon these confederate 
scamps heads, I hope. Say to my friend Key to spare them not as 
the receiver of stolen goods is as bad as the thief. 

“T have conveyed to Major Donelson your message. The 
Major when he gets through the engagements on hand with his 
colts will sell out and break up his training establishment, having 
run his stock in to credit, will breed to sell. 

“Please present my respects to Major Noland and say to him I 
have received his letter, have had my pen in hand to answer it but 
company has interfered to prevent it and the late affliction in my 
head renders me at least half my time unable to write. I will 
write him soon, the little ones with Sarah and Andrew send their 
kind regard to him. 

“We look forward with pleasing anticipations of seeing you 
and your dear wife and daughter at the Hermitage next September 
when me and my Household can congratulate you on the success of 
the Republican cause, and your sure prospects of election as printer 
to the House of Representatives, and a good Democrat as Speaker. 
My whole household unite in kind salutations to you and yours. 

“With our kind regards to the president and all the heads of 
Departments, with best wishes for their triumph over their ca- 
lumniators, I remain. your friend. 

““Andiew Jackson. 
ey P. BlarHsqu: 


“P. S. Read and dispose of the confidential note enclosed and 
aid as far as you can the object desired. I have heretofore wrote 
the president and Secretary of War upon this subject and have 
wrot2 Judge Grundy today : 

“ee 4 jae 


JACKSON TO GEN’L. SAMUEL J. HAYS. 


“Hermitage, Decbr. 20th. 1839. 
‘My dear Saml: 

“T am happy to hear from Mr. Chester’s old Moses that you 
had entirely recovered your health and strength, before you went 
down to your place and hope Mrs. Hays and children are well. We 
now enjoy health here but myself and mine is checkered as usual, 
but the present invitations of the citizens cf New Orleans, and 
those of the State of Mississippi, with the great solicitude of our 
friends elsewhere, has induced me to make the effort to be at 
New Orleans on the 8th. of January. For this purpose I will be at 
Memphis on the 2nd. of Januray next, where, if it was convenient 
for you and Doctor Saml. Donelson to meet me, it would give me 
pleasure to see you. Perhaps it would be convenient for you to go 
down to New Orleans with us. I would be pleased to see the Dr. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 5351 


on a little business. Please see the three Memphis Donelsons, and 
give my regards to them and Mr. John Donelson’s family. Present 
Mr and Mrs. Jackson’s kind respects with mine to Mrs. Hays and 
kiss your dear children for me and believe me your affectionat= 
uncle. 

“Andrew Jackson. 

“Major Genl. Saml. J. Hays 
, the morni 
P. O. Shelby County, 
“Western District, Tennessee.” 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hemmitage, January 5th, 1841. 
“My dear Sir: 

“T am happy to see, from the columms of the Globe, that you 
have returned from the Havana and are again seated in your arm 
chair, noticing with an attentive eye the mov2ments of the great 
leaders of the combined opposition. The attack made by Mr. 
Webster on the president and secretary of the treasury, displays a 
want of candor and fair dealing. Unworthy of an honorable mind. 
But this throwing of an ank=r a head to shield the contemplated ex- 
travagance and folly of the succeeding administration, is well 
developed by the well timed and appropriate reply of Mr. Wright. 
Mr. Webster by this reply is displayed to the world either devoid of 
financial information or perversely wicked, whose aim is to deceive 
the people, and blind them to the contemplated adoption of a 
national bank, high tariff, and public debt, the secret measures of 
Mr. Webster and his party. Mr. Wright has fully exposed him. 

“Col. Bentons Log Cabin bill is an excellent move. It places 
Clay m a position that he must vote for the bill, or expose his 
lhypocracy im all his speeches he made durimg the late canvas for 
the presidency. His speech at Nashville ought to be brought to 
his view in which he concluded, by the emphatic appeal to the con-" 
gregated assembly, “Yes,” said he, “fellow citizens the battle is 
now between the Log Cabins and the palaces’” Mr. Clay betook 
himself to the “palaces” and the Log Cabin men to Mr. Fosters 
old field there to eat their homely fare, and the canopy their cover- 
ing, and I have no doubt when the vote is taken on Col. Benton’s 
bill, he will forsake the cabim boys and betake himself to the 
palaces, leaving the cabin boys to shift for themselves. We will see. 
Present me to Col. Benton. This movement of his will compel 
these demagogues to vote for his bill or destroy them im the south 
and west. Let Benton’s speech be published and widely circulated 
with the yeas and nays upon it. 

“I hope you will be elected by this congress as public printer. 
This will be an important matter to the democrary and a heart- 
rendering disappoimtment to the Whigs. This I hope will be done. 

“Write me and let me know whether there are any defections 
in the democratic ranks m congress, whether we have not still a 


552 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


majority in both Houses. Present my kind regards with that of 
Andrew and lady to Mrs. Blair and your household, receive the 
same for yourself and believe me your friend. 
“Andrew Jackson. 

“RP, Blaig, Bsqe- 

“P. S. My Nephew Col. A. J. Hutchings of whom I enquired 
about in my letter to you has got home, but very low. I hope your 
daughter will receive much,benefit by the change of climate 


Where is your sons and how are they? 
2 SANG ye 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage, February 19th, 1841. 
“My Dear Sir: 

“On the receipt of your last letter on the subject of the so called 
session of Congress, not being able to go to Nashville, I solicited an 
interview with Governor Polk, who with Genl. Armstrong, visited 
me on yesterday, when we discussed the matter fully, and took 
a view of this subject with all its bearings and consequences. The 
Governor has the subject under consideration and in due time will 
conclude. But I assure you, under all the circumstances of the 
case, taking into view our situation here, the various aspirants for 
the Senate, the division of the Democratic members of the Legis- 
latures on this subject, makes caution and enquiry necessary, for if 
division in the Democratic ranks should take place on the subject 
of a choice for Senator, the whigs might succeed in electing the 
Senator which would be unfortunate. At last election it was with 
great difficulty we could bring about harmony amongst the re- 
publican members to elect General Anderson. There would be no 
difficulty in the Governor determining on a call of the Legislature 
if it could be ascertained that the Legislature would unite upon our 
present Senators and elect them, but there are at least a half a 
dozen of aspirants looking to the Senators place and a division 
in our ranks at present might be fatal to the Democracy of Tenn- 
essee at present, when it is believed that the republican cause is 
gaining daily, and against our next regular election, we will be able 
to get a triumphant majority in our State Legislature. The un- 
necessary call of an extra session by Harrison will, if properly 
managed by our speakers, open the eyes of the deluded people 
and prostrate the Whigs who have been crying out retrenchment 
and reform, and before Harrison gets into the chair of State are 
crying out for an extra session which will cost the people half a 
million and the call of State Legislature half a million more. This 
with other causes which I pass over makes the Governor deliberate 
and enquire but when he comes to decide, after the call of the extra 
session he will decide upon the subject rightly. You will please 
to say to General Anderson and Mr. Nicholson that I have seen 
the Governor, who has the subject of a call of the Legislature under 
serious consideration when the proclamation of the president elect 


. i 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 553 


is made for a call session of Congress, will be ready to act upon the 
subject; that there are many important consideration necessary to 
be here taken into view before the Governor can come to a final 
conclusion on this matter. Please with my complements to these 
gentlemen say to them I should have wrote each of them but I am 
not able. I have not been out of my house since I wrote you last. 

“Please give me information how the Senate will stand next 
Congress on the repeal of the subtreasury Bank question and of the 
distribution land bill. I hope your friend in Congress will elect 
you printer. This is all important for in two years we will 
a large majority in the House of Representatives. I have just seen 
the entry of General Harrison in your city. He is playing the part 
of the Ohio blacksmith. How disgraceful to this Union. I always 
knew he had no common sense and the signs are ominous of his 
fate, and the breaking of the cord bearing the flags of the States 
may be ominous of the dissolution of this glorious union under 
his administration. Was there ever such a spectacle as the pres- 
ident elect roaming over the country speaking to the people, abus- 
ing the president in power. Never and from this Harrison came 
before his inauguration, we have nothing to expect of him but the 
height of folly and madness throughout his term. I pray to God 
that He may preserve our glorious union under Harrison’s weak- 
ness, vanity and folly. 

“We are looking forward to the rise of Congress when we shall 
have the pleasure of seeing you and family at the Hermitage. I 
and my household kindly salute you and yours and rejoice to hear 
that your dear daughter is regaining her health and that your sons 
are doing well. Wi ith my best wishes for your health and happiness 

“Sincerely your friend. 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Francis P. Blair, Esqr.”’ 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage, April 19, 1841. 
““My dear Sir: 
“Your letter of the 4th. instant giving me the information of 
' the death of the president is before me. 

“] anticipated this result from the causes you have named—he 
had not sufficient energy to drive from him the office hunters, and 
he was obliged to take stimulants to keep up the system; this with 
fatigue brought on the complaint which carried him hence. A 
kind and over ruling providence has interferred to prolong our 
glorious Union and happy republican system which General Harri- 
son and his cabinet was preparing to destroy unde the dictation 
of that profligate demagogue, Henry Clay; their plans of a national 
bank a national debt, high protective ‘tariff and assumption oi 
state debts etc, etc., all prepared for the action of the called session 
of Congress by the death of Harrison, is blown sky high, for surely 
Tyler with his speeches in the senate and representativ e hall never 


554 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


can approve a bill chartering a national Bank, or for assuming the 
State debts. He is a true State rights man, by profession and 
against a national debt. He cannot without abandoning all these 
professions of republican principles sanction by approval any 
these measures, and I therefore conclude that this act of an over- 
ruling providence was to preserve and perpetuate our happy system 
of republicanism and stay the corruptions of this combined clique 
who has got into power by deluding the people by the grossest 
slanders, corruptions and vilest idolatry of coons and hard cider. 
‘The Lord liveth, let our Nation rejoice’’. 

“T wrote you I think on the 4th. of March advising you amongst 
other things, that I had just received a letter from your lovely 
daughter at Havana saying she was to meet you and Mrs. Blair at 
the Hermitage in May next; in yours of the 4th. April you have not 
said whether you have received it. Will we have the pleasure to see 
you at the Hermitage and when. 

“T have seen with indignation the cause of Clay and his Federal 
tools in the senate with regard to you and Rives as Printers to the 
senate. They have passed a vote of dismissal but that vote cannot 
set aside your contract and Blackstone says “‘there is no wrong but 
there is a remedy,” and altho the senate cannot be sued, their 
agent who the senate by law has authorized to make contract with 
you, I should suppose can; or the court could enjoin the Secretary 
of the Senate from giving the printing under your contract to any 
others until it appeared you had neglected to comply with your 
contract. Be ready to perform your duty, continue to demand 
the printing from the secretary of the Senate, and if he fails to de- 
liver, try your injunction, and a mandamas, the injunction to pro- 
hibit him from paying to other and a mandamus to hand over 
the printing to you agreeable to your written contract. Consider 
of this and take council. If Blackstone is good authority there 
must be a remedy and a power somewhere to compel the parties to 
the contract to fulfill it. 

“Write me what you think will be Tyler’s course—will he stick 
to a strict construction of the constitution or will he sell himself to 
Baal, or rather take that unprincipled swaggering demagogue, 
Clay, for his guide and worship him. 

‘““My whole household join me in kind salutations and good 
wishes to you and yours. 

“Your friend, sincerely, 
“Andrew Jackson. 
“Francis P. Blair, Esq.” 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage, May 31st, 1841. 
‘““My dear Sir: 
“Your favor of the 16th. is this instant before me and in a 
few more days you will be able to tell whether the court will be 
under the influence of the powers that be and yield to the usurpa- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY Da 


tion of the Senate to rescind contracts entered into under positive 
enactments by Congress. Should it, will it not be a good cause for 
an impeachment should we have hereafter a pure and enlightened 
Senate, advise me of the court’s decision. 

“The concealment by Tyler of the principles upon which he 
will administer the government, has astonished many others, not 
myself. He went off from my administration on the pretext of the 
proclamation and afterwards acknowledged to Major Donelson 
that he had taken up a hasty conclusion without understanding it, 
that since he had read and understood it he could find nothing in 
it to condemn. Mr. Calhoun was then his guide. Mr. Webster 
and Clay now, hence he keeps dark, uses dubious language that 
he may take a course that arouses terms and the prospect of self 
agerandizemt may present. 


Mr. Tyler cannot approve a Bank bill without perjuring himself; he 
has declared that no power except under the constitutional grant 
authorizes congress to incorporate a national bank. He has sol- 
emnly sworn to preserve protect and defend the constitution; the 
veto power given the president is the only power he is invested. © 
with to protect and defendit. How then can a President under 
such a solemn obligation approve a law creating a bank without 
wilful and corrupt perjury, who like Mr. Tyler, has so oftern de- 
clared that there is no constitutional powers in congress to pass 
such a law. Congress meets this day and Mr. Tyler will have to 
announce his principles.. But my opinion is he will be silent as toa 
National Bank, and leave that to his secretary. We will see. 
Should he keep Webster in his cabinet Webster will have all the 
mischief brought upon the country that the profligacy of Clay and 
Webster can suggest and a willing majority can execute. For my- 
self I will trust in a kind providence and the virtue of the great 
body of the yeomanry of the country to preserve and perpetuate 
our republican institutions and our glorious Union. 


“The appointment of such men as with Poindexter, 
with the wholesale proscription is destroying the present admin- 
istration and I hope our friends in the senate will take a stand 
against their confirmation. And I also hope that our friends in 
congress will make a call upon the heads of Departments and en- 
quire where they have found legal authority to appoint a com- 
mission to examine into the conduct of those engaged on the public- 
works, and out of what funds this commission has been paid etc,ete. 
Our friends have a fine field to operate in and to expose the reform 
party. I hope they will embrace it. I cannot expect you to have 
much leisure during the sitting of congress. But it will offer me 
much pleasure to hear from you. I still hope to see you this fall 
should congress adjourn, but if it does all the business contemplated 
it will not adjourn before next month. 


“My whole household joins me in warm and kind tokens to you 


556 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


and yours, with sincere congratulations on the restoration of Miss 
Betsy’s health, to whom present all affectionately, and believe me 
sincerely your friend, 

“Andrew Jackson. 
YRS. 

“Present us to Mr. Kendall and his family, to my friends 
Doctor Linn and Benton and theirs. We look up to these Senators 
for an ample defense of the democracy and hope their .speeches 
may be well circulated. Please to inform me confidentally what 
my friend Wm. B. Lewis is about. Can it be that it is immaterial 
to him who rules? If so then I have had around me a treacherous 
set in him and some others. 

WAN il 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage, July 17th, 1841. 
““My dear Sir: ° 

‘‘T have been lately suddenly and surely attacked. From a state 
of health unusually good I sat down to breakfast and as I was 
raising the fork to my mouth I was struck, like as it was, a thunder- 
bolt thro my left breast and shoulders, I did not fall, but a second 
shock brought me to my feet when I regained my breath. The 
lancet was applied but no blood could be obtained until my right — 
arm was immersed in very hot water, suffice it to say for 8 hours 
I suffered more pain than thro all my life. I am mending slowly, 
frequent returns of pain and this is the first day since taken that I 
have attempted to write. What is remarkable, my nerve is as firm 
and steady as they ever were and had I strength I could write as 
usual, but I am much debilitated in body and a perfect skeleton. 

“T see you keep a steady eye on that worthless demagogue 
Henry Clay. He will boldly push himself into difficulties and surely 
try to sneak out of them, andthen complain in the very face of the 
Senate who heard him, that you have done him injustice. When 
Hall lies so boldly in open day, what must the world think of his 
veracity. 

“T see that little apostate, Archer has attempted to make an 
attack upon Jefferson and myself. This is contrary to what his 
continued friendly intercourse with me as long as he and myself 
remain in the city spending with me at my house many friendly 
evenings of social intercourse. I had no idea before that he was a 
hypocrite, his conduct now proves it. Had I have given him a 
foreign mission I would have been spared of his ruthles epithets. 
Mr. Archer is a man of small caliber, not quite mediocrety in talent 
and has shown himself devoid of those magnanimous and honor- 
able feelings that old time gentlemen possess. 

“Clay will not get his bank bill passed. Tyler will veto it and 
him and Tyler will be at daggers points and the heterogeneus mass 
of unprincipled men with which the modern whig party is com- 
posed, will burst asunder as tho they were drove by the four winds 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY S50, 


of heaven, and there will surely be a wreck left behind. I have thus 
much written to convince you I am still in the land of the living. 
With a tender of the kind regards of myself and all my household 
to you and yours, I remain your friend. Write me, and present us 
kindly to Mr. Kendall and family. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“Francis P. Blair, Esqr.”’ 


JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage, August 12th, 1841. 
“Francis P. Blair, Esqr. 
““My dear Sir: 

“T have just received yours of the 2nd. instant acknowledging 
mine, etc. I wrote my friend Doctor Linn the day I wrote you. 
Whilst I was confined and unable to write the debt of gratitude I 
owed him remaining by me, un-expressed to him, lay heavy on my 
mind and the first moment that I could hold the pen, feeble as I 
was, I wrote him which was mailed with the one to you and which 
T hope he has received. Please, with my kind regards, enquire if he 
received it. It was of the same date with yours or perhaps the day 
previous. So long as my pulse beats, the gratitude I owe Doctor 
Linn will warm my bosom for his disinterested friendship in my 
’ defense. 

“T fear Governor Polk is beaten entirely by the apathy of the 
Democracy. He fought the battle unaided I may say, and he 
fought it well and is entitled to the thanks of the Democracy. 
It is believed that we have a small majority in the general assembly, 
but as yet not positively ascertained. If we have I hope the democ- 
racy will with a united voice send him to the senate; he deserves 
this much of the confidence of the Republicans. 

“TI am happy to hear that it is believed in Washington as I also 
believe, that Tyler will veto the Bank bill and the distribution 
Land bill. If principle does not induce him, policy will. 

“I am happy to learn that Mr. Calhoun is got right. God send’ 
that he may continue so. If he looks at the Tariff bill prepared by 
McClain under my view he will find there the principle of a pro- 
tecting tariff repudiated, and if he remembers Clay’s speech ex- 
cusing himself for the compromise, he will find that there Clay 
proclaimed that it was to preserve the principle of protection, 

which I intended to destroy in the bill before the House of Repre- 
sentatives and the Senate’s bill (the compromise was taken up by 
Letcher in the House and moved as an amendment to the House 
of Representatives bill). If Mr. Calhoun remains firm, I am sure I 
will not throw the least shade over him—+to err is human, to forgive 
is divine. 

“You say nothing about your visit to us this summer, I fear 
you will not be able to come. We would be delighted to see you 
and the family at the Hermitage. My little family all unite with me 
in our kind wishes for you and your family’s welfare. 


558 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Tam gaining my strength very slowly. I have a bad cough and 
throw up a great deal of fleme daily. 

“Present me to Benton, Woodbury and to my friend Doctor 
Linn and their families, to Mr. Kendall and his, to Buchanan, 
Alen, and to Mr. Fulton and his family. I cannot write to them. 
Iam too feeble to write much. Tho last not least in my view is Col- 
onel King and Wm. Walker and to my republican friends in the 
House of Representatives from this State. Your friend. 

“Andrew Jackson. 
“P.S. Our republican friends in the Senate have fought the battle 
well. Woodbury has answered deceptions well. My thanks to him 
for his speeches. 

ean 
JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 

“Hermitage (1841 ?) 
“My dear Sir: 

“IT perceive that Mr. Rives has been elected Senator by the 
Legislature of Virginia. Can he submit to the degredation, on 
the terms offered, to accept it? We will see. Should he accept, 
then indeed he can submit to and do any thing for office. I think 
we may exclaim, o tempora omores. 

“T see from the Globe, that Mr. Clay’s suple tool, Mangum, is 
performing Clay’s dirty work for him. Mangum, thought he could 
lie with impunity and slander me to the great gratification of his 
master, and that he would pass without exposure. But he was 
mistaken. How his vanity must have been cowered, by making 
the acknowledgment he was compelled to make and how glaring 
his hypocracy in his disclaimer, when every one who heard or has 
read his remarks must see that it was me he was attacking and 
slandering. Behold ‘I too was in the capital’, as much as to say, 
I was there for the purpose of over-aweing Congress into the 
measure. What will become of our government with such men in 
the senate, regardless of truth or justice, and that imbecile in the 
Executive chair, a mere puppet for Clay, Webster and their un- 
principled clique like to wield as they please. May God protect us 
from a dissolution of the Union in the four years to come, when 
I trust the government will be restored to honest men, who will 
take principle for their guide, the public good the end and pure 
Democratic rule again established and our happy republican system 
perpetuated. This will be the case if our glorious union remains. 

“Let me hear from you soon. Give me the strength of the 
Democracy in both houses now, and the prospects in the next Con- 
gress. Can the present congress elect you printer again, if so, it 
will be a great point gained for the republican cause. I do not 
believe Clay and all the Whig and Federal power can repeal the 
sub-treasury law. Give our kind regard to the President, con- 
gratulate my friend Woodbury on his election to the Senate where 
he can rebuke Clay for his unwarrantable attacks upon him and 
his reports, give my kind regards to Colonel Benton for his exer- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 559 


tions to have passed the log cabin law which has been the means of 
exposing so much the hypocracy of Clay and Webster and their 
corrupt coadjutors. Present me to my friend Kendall and say to 
him I would be happy to hear from him and how his health is. And 
last tho not least, present me and my whole household to your 
amiable family and may you triumph over all your enemies, be 
again elected printer to the next congress and continue to lash the 
apostates and hypocrites, until they reform themselves, and become 
honest men is the prayer of your friend.” 


“Andrew Jackson.” 

“Francis P. Blair, Esqr.— 

‘P.S. When I directed General Armstrong to forward the Extra, 
Globe, I wished the congressional that I might have it bound as a 
book and hand down to my little grand-children. Send it to me 
and I will the first opportunity send you the amount for it. Hope 
to s2e you and your family early in the spring. I have been con- 
fined to my house since the 29th. of December, except once I got to 
Nashville to see Colonel Harris’ Edition of the Nashville Union, 
who had been severely wounded by a set of the most cowardly cold 
blooded assasins that I ever heard of or disgraced a country. If 
they get their deserts they will be inmates to a penitentiary for 
years. Harris is out of danger and will be soon again in the Edi- 
torial chair. 

“Ay” 
JACKSON TO FRANCIS P. BLAIR. 


“Hermitage Novbr. 22d, 1843. 
“My dear Mr. Blair: 

“Your letter of the 11th instant is received and I am happy at 
last that the mortgages has reached you. 

“Not having the same intimate acquaintance with Mr. Rives 
that I had with you, I did not know but the delay of these papers 
might raise in his mind distrust that all was not as it should be. 
I knew, let me be called off at any time your debt and his was well 
secured, but I wanted Mr. Rives to be in possession of those papers 
that he might also know it. 

“At last we are 2njoying the second day oi sunshine, which is 
the first we have had together in a month, it has tempted me almost 
to go to Nashville, but I am deterred by a severe attach of diarea. 
I have brought your election to the mind of Major A. J. Donelson 
who is one oi the delegates who has promised that he will converse 
with all the democratic members of congress that will be there. 
I write to Colorel C. Johnson who is faithful and true, on al! 
points. I hope they are ailso. I write to my friend Judge Wilkins, 
who I am sure will use all his inpuence in your behalf. If the Whigs 
and apostate democrats could defeat your election, it would be a 
periect Jubilee tothem. Therefore it is that every democrat should 
unite upon, and sustain your election, and I trust it will be the 
case. As soon as I see Major Donelson after the convention ad- 


560 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


journs I will write you again. I will, if my strength holds out write 
to our mutual friend, Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, but my pen today will be 
employed to our delegation at Nashville. 

‘““My dear Blair I can say to you confidentially, unless relieved 
from some of my afflictions under which I now labour, I cannot re- 
main long here. If providence will spare me to hear of your elec- 
tion, and to see the result of the vote in congress on the subject of 
the fine imposed by Judge Hall, I will be thankfull. I hope some 
friend will press it to a final vote. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson unite 
with me in kind salutations to you my dear Mrs. Blair and daugh- 
ter. Yr friend Sincerely 


“Andrew Jackson. 


‘““Note—I enclose the letter to Judge Wilkins to you that you may 
seal and hand it to him so that he will be sure to get it. You will 
see by it how feeble I am SAGA 


“* Private 


“P. S. I am delighted to hear of your fair prospects fora priom 
(sic!) (meaning ‘“‘scion’’?) out of Emmits son (?). Taladega has im- 
proved much, so much that my friend Major Wm. Armstrong 
and Governor Butler of South Carolina has taken her and a two 
year old filly to Arkansas, with a two year old stud by Mermon, 
half brother of Taladega. They are three fine animals. From my 
confinement and the inattention of my old groom Dunwodie, and 
to meet a pressing demand against my son growing out of a swing- 
ling act of S. Donelson in the case of his assumed debt to Mrs. 
Eleason, I parted with them. 

“T have grappled with every debt Andrew owes and I trust will 
be able to meet them. 

‘““My last years crop of cotton from the Hermitage was shipped 
to England by my friend Colonel White with the most friendly view 
was unfortunate; it sold for the precise sum it would have brought 
at New Orleans and the expense of freight, insurance, commissions 
and loss of upwards of 3000 Ibs. in weight, swallowed the whole 
almost of the proceeds. This has shortened our funds. Our crop of 
cotton both here and below is good, but the continued rains has 
prevented us from getting it out, and of course much of the under- 
bowles have rotted. It may be unless cotton rises, that we may be 
pressed in meeting all our engagements. I therefore request you to 
consult Mr. Rives and with candour of a friend say to me, whether, 
on receiving the interest, you can, without injury, pospone the 
instalment due next May, for one year. If you can our means will 
meet every debt Andrew owes and I am responsible for leaving 
your debt as the only incumbrance on us or our property. The 
question I ask, have you use for this instalment, if you have it 
shall be forthcoming; if you have it to loan then it will be an ob- 
ligement to pay interest on the instalment for another year, when 
the product of our farms will be well able to meet half the debt 
with the accruing interest. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 561 


“Note—that this indulgence is only asked if it can be done 
without injury or inconvenience to you, not else and it depends 
upon the price of cotton and whether we can house our crops, 
whether it will be necessary. I have a family of ten likely and 
valuable Negroes I can spare here without injury, and my inquire 
is, looking a head, that if necessary we will meet this debt punctual- 
ly, grateful to you and Mr. Rives for your liberality and kindness in 
making us the loan, for which we will forever be grateful. 

oa 
“A. J. Jr. is just returned from below, the crops good but incessant 
rains has prevented there, like here, from getting the cotton housed.” 


CATRON TO JACKSON. 


“November 13, 1844. 
“My dear Sir: 

“T put off until Tuesday to call and see you before I left for 
the East. The weather proved very bad yesterday and I concluded 
to go up to day and cross over to the Stage road. To day the 
weather is no better and I am disappointed to my deep regret. L 
staid closely at home for two weeks past, owing to younger friends 
being excited about the Election Contest, and do not leave for 
Frankfort until the latest day. The court sets on Monday, 
go to night by the Stage. 

“I congratulate you on the almost certain success in the late 
struggle. Some difficulties would not have been overcome as I 
_ believe, but for your energetic aid. Mr. Tyler’s withdrawal for 
one: Nor could a Tennessee Candidate have been presented but 
for the position of yourself, past and present. The matter is a 
curiosity. White was put up for the purpose of breaking down the 
Jackson party, and especially in Tennessee. On Colonel Polk, as a 
young and rising man especially, ruin was declared to be certain, if 
he stood up with his party; and so intended by those who brought 
forth Judge White. Ispeak not from conjecture. For eight or nine 
years he by energy and industry maintained his fixed principles, 
until his character rose to an eminence not dreamed of by his 
opponents, and secured to him the nomination, now crowned with 
Success, in all prbability. It isa reward for firmness and integrity 
that will warn the young politicians of the United States against 
intrigues intended to ruin their party friends. 

“The past contest has had some distressing circumstances 
in it; especially that of excessive betting. It was impossible to 
keep it down in my own family of young men; but the old men of 
the other side run into the excess, and set the example. 

“T shall do myself the pleasure to write to you during theWinter. 

““May Heaven preserve you until my return. 


We Catron. 
‘‘To General Jackson 
“Wednesday, November 13th. 1844.” 
36 


562 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 
ler els Ys eR Te ST TT ee Tee TTT 


of Mills’ equestrian statue of General Jackson in 
Washington, Jan. 8, 1853; oration of L. J. Sigur, 
Esq., Jan. 9, 1856, at New Orleans, at the inaugu- 
ration of Mills’ equestrian statue of General 
Jackson; origin of the statue and the monument 


Pa 
CHAPTER 21. 
Oration of Stephen A. Douglas at the inauguration 


at Chalmette; oration of W. O. Hart of the 
Louisiana Historical Society at the eighty-third 
i anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. 


eee ess pete es] eee] eae sean eee eae ease] ee see] ees] 


pe eee ee ee ee eee feel ee epee ee epee 


(From the ‘Washington Union” of January 9, 1853.) 


“At an early hour yesterday it was perceptible that the citizens 
of Washington were intent on something beyond the ordinary 
routine of business. The sky was clear, the air soft and bland, 
like that of the Indian summer, and not like that of mid-winter. 
The occasional boom of a gun, and the pavements thronged with 
persons moving toward Lafayette Square, would have indicated 
to an utter stranger that some interesting ceremony engaged the 
public attention. That ceremony was the inaugeration of a 
statue of Andrew Jackson, which the gratitude of the people, 
whom he had served with more than Roman devotion in the field 
and in the cabinet, had erected to commemorate his heroism, his 
genius, and his virtues. The day chosen was fit and appropriate, 
being the anniversary of the closing struggle of the second war of 
Independence—the anniversary of the day when our citizen sol- 
diery, animated by the example of Andrew Jackson, and directed 
by his skill, overthrew the most formidable army which ever in- 
vaded our shores. 

‘The procession was formed in front of the City Hall, under 
the direction of George W. Hughes, Esq., of Maryland, late a col- 
onel in the United States Army, distinguished for his eminent 
services in the Mexican War, who was appointed by the Managing 
Committee of the Monument Association chief marshal of the day. 
By the direction of Colonel Hughes and his aide and assistant 
marshals, the procession moved in imposing numbers and ad- 
mirable order to Pennsylvania avenue, and thence toward La- 
fayette Square. Every available position along the route was 
filled with ladies and gentlemen—the balconies, and in many in 
stances the house-tops, being filled with spectators. Ringgald’s 
celebrated battery of flying artillery, under the command of Major 
Taylor, led the column, and attracted marked attention by its 
precise movements, and by the glorious reminiscences which it 


LEVI WOODBURY, 1789-1857. 
From National Portrait Gallery of 1856; Secretary of the Navy, May 23, 1831 
to July 1, 1834; Thirteenth Secretary of the Treasury, July 1, 1834, to 1841; 
Governor of New Hampshire 1823-1824; United States Senator 1825-1831; 
alla Senator 1841-1845; Judge Supreme Court of the United States 


STEPHEN A. DOUGLASS, 1813-1861. 


Defeated as a candidate for President in 1860, when Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge 
and John Bell were also cannidates and Lincoln was elected. From National 
Portrait Gallery. Member of Congress from Illinois 1843-1847; United States 
Senator 1847-1861 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 563 


awakened. .Then came a company of United States marines, 
commanded by Lieutenant Henderson; the Washington Light 
Infantry, Captain Tate; the National Greys, Captain Bacon; the 
Continental Guards, Captain Wilson; the Walker Sharpshooters, 
Captain Bradford; the German Yagers, Captain Swartzman; and 
the Boone Riflemen, Captain Bright—all under the direction of 
Colonel William Hickey, Lieutenant Colonel Riley, Major Key- 
worth, and Adjutant Tait. The civil procession, consisting of 
the city officers, members of Congress, the Democratic Asso- 
ciations of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, with dele- 
gations from Baltimore followed. Conspicuous positions were 
alloted to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and his staff, to 
the artist whose untutored genius had produced the statue, and 
the Committee of Management charged with its erection. Pro- 
ceeding up Pennsylvania avenue, the procession entered the 
grounds of the Executive Mansion, passing around the semi-circle 
in front, and saluting the President, who was attended by the 
members of his cabinet and distinguished officers of the army and 
navy. ‘The military, led by Ringgold’s battery, then moved around 
Lafayette Square, entering it from the northern gate—the civic 
procession moving down the avenue, and entering through the 
southern gate. 

“Rey. Clement C. Butler, Chaplain to the Senate, opened the 
ceremonies by an eloquent and appropriate prayer. Hon. Stephen 
A. Douglas, Senator from Illinois, the orator of the occasion, was 
then introduced to the multitude, and riveted its attention while 
he delivered, in the happiest manner, the able, graphic, stirring 
address we publish to-day, which cannot fail to command the 
attention and applause of every reader by the happy spirit in which 
it was conceived, by its admirable sketch of the civil and military 
services of Andrew Jackson, by its freedom from party illusions, by 
the patriotic sentiments it contains, and by the stirring language 
in which it was announced. 

“When the orator had concluded, amidst the shouts of the 
thousands who surrounded him, Clark Mills Esq., was introduced. 
He had no words to express his feelings, and in lieu of words he 
pointed to the veiled statue; the veil was instantly withdrawn, and 
Jackson on his steed, as if in full action, full of life and energy, was 
revealed. That was his speech, and none could have been more 
appropriate. Without instruction, without instruments or appli- 
ances, with but little encouragement, and against the remon- 
strances and hinderences of men of art and men of science, he had 
labored for years, and by a simple gesture he pointed to the result 
of his labors. The scene was most picturesque.- The speaker’s 
stand was filled with eminent men—the President and his cabinet, 
Gen. Scott and his staff, distinguished Senators and Represent- 
atives—while at least twenty thousand of the people occupied the 
square and the neighboring house tops. The bands playeda salute, . 
and Taylor’s battery answered with the guns which had done such 


564 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE HISTORY 


good service against the enemies of the country. The Rev. Mr. 
Gallagher, Chaplain of the House of Representatives, closed the 
ceremonies in a most appropriate manner. ‘Then the various mili- 
tary companies fired off amidst the cheers and the music of their 
bands, many citizens lingering in admiration of the matchless work 
which the hands of a man of the people had fashioned. 

‘Thanks to Colonel Hughes and to his aids and assistants, 
everything was so well ordered that no untoward accident hap- 
pened. The streets and the square were crowded, yet every move- 
ment was-so organized and arranged that no collision occured, and 
the imposing ceremonies connected with the inauguration of the 
statue were concluded as befitted the occasion. 


ORATION 


“All nations have marked the period of their highest civiliza- 
tion and greatest developement by monuments to their illustrious 
men. ‘The hero, the statesman, the benefactor of the age, thus 
passes on to succeeding generations, and carries with him the glo- 
ries of his time and the memory of the people associated with 
his achievements. ‘Trajan, on his historic column, illustrated to 
successive generations the brilliant achievements in the field and 
wise acts in council, which imparted lustre and immortality to 
his reign. Constantine, from his storied arch, for centuries has 
proclaimed religious toleration to the humble Christian, and 
proudly recounted the glorious deeds of his life and times. The 
sculptured marble, above the urns that hold their sacred ashes, 
delineates the animated scenes in which that fame was won, and 
command the admiration, if not the homage, of the world. The 
best of emperors, Marcus Aurelius, looks from his fiery steed on 
the realm he exalted—a group in monumental bronze the noblest 
in all intiquity. It yet survives the ruin of his country, in sub- 
lime majesty perpetuating the glories of the man and the grati- 
tude of the Roman people, amidst a degradation to which it now 
imparts a hope of regeneration. The statue before you is the 
work of a man exalted by his enthusiasm for the glorious deeds 
and wise acts of a hero and statesman. It is the work of a young, 
untaught American. I cannot call him an artist. He never 
studied nor copied. He never saw an Equestrian Statue, not even 
a model. It is the work of inborn genius, aroused to energy by 
the triumphant spirit of liberty which throbs in the great heart 
of our continent—which creates the power of great conceptions, 
the aspiration and the will, the mental faculty and the manual 
skill, to eternize the actors who ennoble the country, by giving 
their forms and: expressions to imperishable materials. 

‘Proudly may we compare to the Equestrian Statues of Europe 
that noble Roman figure, which preserves the form and features 
of our hero, and that colossal war-horse in bronze which will 
bear him in glory through future ages! I have seen delineations 
of the Equestrian Statutes of Peter the Great, of Frederick the 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 565 


Great, and of the Duke of Wellington, which are esteemed, I be- 
lieve, the best specimens of that description of sculpture that 
modern Europe has been able to contribute to her collection of 
works of art. The horse of the great Czar is supported in its 
rampart position by the aid of an unsightly contrivance. Be- 
tween its legs a serpent, by a bend in the body, connects with the 
tail of the steed, and is fastened to the pedestal. That of the 
great Prussian monarch, which is designed to appear in motion 
has one fore foot and another behind fixed to the pedestal; a third 
is maintained in an elevated position by means of a prop, which 
is introduced to give stability to the statue by sustaining the 
weight, while but one is left free to give the semblance of life and 
movement. The rearing steed of the Duke of Wellington, like 
that of Peter the Great, maintains its rampant position by the 
hind legs and tail being riveted to the massive pedestal. What 
a wonderful triumph has our untaught contryman achieved over 
those renowned trophies of European art in the hot and fiery 
charger before you, leaping “‘so proudly as if he disdained the 
ground,’ ’self-poised and self-sustained on the single point whence 
he derives his motion! No props, no serpents, no unnatural con- 
trivances, are here. Nature, which has taught the impetuous 
steed to poise his weight and gather his strength to spring into the 
air, has given the genius which fashioned this group the power to 
impart grace and energy to the finely-balanced attitude, which 
makes the weight, that others prop and hold up by rivets, furnish 
to the work its strength and stability. 

“But the real power of the noblest monument consists in the 
moral grandeur of the recollections it recalls. The exquisite 
beauty of the statue of Nero, by its contrast with the monster it 
brings to mind, makes the heart recoil as from the shining folds 
of a polished serpent. How different the beholder in the pre- 
sence of the august form before us! The image of the resistless 
hero, who drove the last invader from our shores, turns back our 
thoughts to the eager boy who shed his stripling blood in the Rev- 
olution, and to the resolute sage who withstood the corruption 
and phrenzy of his times, and to the patriot statesman whose life 
and deeds mark a most eventful era in our national history. 

“Let me glance at some of the events in his glorious career, and 
close with a view of him in his retirement at the Hermitage. 

“In the year 1765 a small vessel arrived in the harbor of Charles- 
ton with a number of Irish emigrants on board, who had fled from 
tyranny and persecution in the old world to find peace and free- 
dom in the new. Among them was a family by the name of Jack- 
son, consisting of Andrew and his wife, and their two sons, Hugh 
and Robert. They immediately proceeded to the upper country, 
and selected for their new home a lonely spot in the valley of the 
Waxhaw. Two years after, Andrew Jackson, whose illustrious 
deeds have filled the world with his renown, was born. The 
father died a few months aiter the birth of the son, who was to 


566 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


inherit his name and render it immortal. Nobly did the widowed 
mother perform her duty to those fatherless children. The earlier 
years of our hero’s boyhood were spent in the peaceful abode of 
Waxhaw Academy. He was there when the Revoluti:n burst 
upon the world. The war-cry, from the bloody fields of Lexington, 
and Concord, and Bunker Hill, aroused the people of all the col- 
onies to a just sense of their wrongs, and inspired them with the 
firm resolve to assert and vindicate their rights. The disastrous 
campaign which succeeded the first brilliant achievements—the 
heroic movements of Washington at Trenton—the sufferings of 
the army at Valley Forge—the glorious victory at Saratoga—ex- 
cited, in alternation, the fears and hopes of the people, and roused 
their patriotism to the highest point. When the tide of desolation 
rolled over the scattered settlements of the Carolinas, the whole 
population, old and young, proved themselves worthy of freedom 
by the spirit in which they met the ruthless oppressor. Hugh, 
the elder brother of Andrew Jackson, fell in his first battle at 
Stono. Robert became a martyr to liberty, and lost his life from 
wounds received while in captivity. The mother descended to 
the grave, a victim to grief and suffering, in ceaseless efforts to 
rescue and save her sons. Andrew was thus left alone in the world 
at a tender age, without father or mother, brother or sister, friend 
or fortune to assist him. All was gone save the high qualities 
with which God had endowed him, and the noble precepts which 
a pious and sainted mother had infused into his young heart. He 
had already, at the age of fourteen, become a soldier of the Rev- 
olution—had borne the fatigues and privations of the march with 
his musket on his shoulder—had displayed the coolness, intre- 
pidity, and fortitude of the veteran in his first engagements with 
the enemy—had endured the sufferings of a cruel captivity ; and, 
for his manly refusal to perform menial services while a prisoner, 
he had received a wound from the sword of a British officer, the 
scar of which he carried with him to his grave. 

‘“The enemy repulsed, the young hero returned to his studies 
to prepare himself for the practice of the law, which he had se- 
lected as a profession. 

“In the meantime the noble work of political regeneration was 
pressed forward—the union of the colonies confirmed by the Ar- 
ticles of Confederation—the independence of the American States 
acknowledged by the powers of Europe—the laws and insti- 
tutions of the several States revised and moulded in conformity 
with the inalienable rights of man—the fundamental principles 
of civil and religious liberty established in the State Constitu- 
tions—and, growing out of, and resting upon these, was the organ- 
ization of the Federal Government under that wonderful instru- 
ment, the Constitution of the United States. America then 
stood forth a power on earth, with the immortal Washington at its 
head. At peace with the nations of the Old World—with a wise 
foreign policy, admirably adapted to our condition and relative 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 567 


position—with a wide-spread and rapidly increasing commerce— 
what more natural than that the energies of the people should be 
directed to the settlement and development of that vast and fertile 
wilderness in the valley of the Mississippi, and that the Father of 
his Country should exert all rightful authority for their protection 
in so laudable an enterprise? The several States claiming title 
to those expansive regions, animated by a patriotic and self-sacri- 
ficing spirit, had voluntarily executed deeds of cession and re- 
linquishment, in order to create a common fund in the hands of 
the Federal Government, with which to discharge the debts of the 
Revolution. The ordinance of 1787, establishing Territorial 
Governments, and providing for the erection of not less than three 
nor more than five States, had opened to immigration and set- 
tlement the country northwest of the river Ohio; while the exten- 
sion of the main provisions of that act to the country south of that 
river had created a civil government for the people of the South- 
west Territory. The tide of immigration had commenced rolling 
westward, and was rushing across the Alleghanies through every 
pass and gorge in the mountains. The bold adventurer, rejoicing 
in danger and novelty—the unfortunate, who hoped to regain his 
lost position—the poor emigrant, with his wife and children, all 
that he could claim as his own on earth—could be seen wending 
their way, by the Buffalo paths and Indian trails, to what seemed 
to them a promised land. The Carolinians had descended the 
French Broad, had stretched along the Holston, and penetrated 
the valley of the Cumberland. These early pioneers were a pe- 
culiar people—hardy, daring, impatient of restraint, and simple 
in their habits of life. Imbued with an exalted sentiment of per- 
sonal liberty and a keen perception of individual rights, they were 
ever ready with their lives to repel aggressions or redress wrongs. 
Beneath these qualities were clearly descernible all the elements 
of political organization, of social development, and of a pure, un- 
adulterated religious reverence. Foremost among the people, 
giving tone to their counsels, and taking the lead in all important 
movements, was Andrew Jackson. If Indian ravages upon the 
scattered settlements were to be arrested—if the savage perpetra- 
tors were to be punished—if daring outlaws were to be brought to 
justice—if the lonely immigrant in the wilderness was to be rescued 
from the tomahawk or starvation—Jackson always led the gallant 
band. Attorney General of the Territory, by the appointment 
of Washington—member of the Convention which laid the founda- 
tions of the State Government—major-general of the militia in- 
trusted with the defense of the inhabitants against the tomahawk 
and scalping knife—a member of the House of Representatives, 
and a Senator in the Congress of the United States—Judge of 
the Supreme Court of his State—the genius of Jackson was every- 
where indelibly impressed on the character of the people and the 
laws and institutions of his own beloved Tennessee. 

“‘Amicable relations being established with the Indian tribes, 


568 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 


symmetry and consistency imparted to their political and social 
organizations, the people of Tennessee naturally turned their at- 
tention to the development and enjoyment of all those advantages 
with which soil, climate, and Nature, in its luxuriance and mag- 
nificence, had surrounded them. Now, Jackson felt himself at 
liberty to gratify an inclination he had long cherished, of with- 
drawing from the cares and toils of official positions, and retiring 
to his farm, rejoicing in the society of his devoted and beloved 
wife, and surrounded by all the comforts and enjoyments his 
tastes could suggest or his heart desire. He carried into retire- 
ment, and displayed in the management of his farm, and his inter- 
course with his fellow-citizens, the same high qualities which had 
stamped invincibility upon his character and success upon his 
movements. His hospitable mansion was a home to the stranger 
and the pioneer—his name was upon every tongue, and his praises 

ere heard wherever his influence was felt. Becoming a silent 
partner in a mercantile establishment, he soon discovered the 
misfortune of his associate, by which the firm was reduced to 
bankruptcy. Instantly recognizing the moral obligation to dis- 
charge the last farthing of indebtednes, he disposed of his lands, 
his stock, his home—all the proceeds of his toils—and became 
the humble tenant of a rude log-cabin, in preference to the humil- 
iation of pecuniary vassalage. 

‘“‘Such a man can always rise above misfortune. By the force 
of his character, and the judicious application of his vast mental 
resourses, he soon recovered from his pecuniary embarrassments, 
and became a flourishing and even wealthy farmer. From his 
retirement he viewed with indignation the long series of British 
aggressions on the commerce and flag of his native country. He 
was an ardent supporter of the principles of Jefferson and Madison, 
and especially of all those measures calculated to maintain the 
rights of his country and redress the wrongs of his countrymen on 
the high seas. Had he succeeded in his aspirations to the com- 
mand which was unfortunately assigned to Winchester, who can 
doubt, at this day, that the series of disasters on the northern 
frontier, which filled the country with humiliation, and clothed 
so many families in mourning, would have been averted? ‘The 
terrible massacre at the river Raisin, succeeding the disgraceful 
surrender of Detroit by Hull, encouraged Tecumseh and the Pro- 
phet to almost superhuman efforts for the accomplishment of 
their grand design of an alliance between the British and all the 
savage tribes, from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern lakes, for 
the purpose of exterminating with the sword and the tomahawk 
the white race in the Mississippi valley, and of restoring all that 
vast and fertile region—the heart of the American continent—to 
its aboriginal proprietors, and of consecrating it to perpetual 
barbarism under the protection of the British Government. ‘The 
arrangements were already perfected so far as the northwestern 
country was concerned. Immediately after the massacre, Tecum- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 569 


seh, who possessed genius equal to any conception and a force of 
character commensurate with the magnitude of his plans, started 
south, in fulfilment of his mission, going from tribe to tribe, elec- 
trifying them by the power of his eloquence, and driving them to 
madness by horrible pictures of monstrous wrongs perpetrated 
by the American people. The Creeks, the Chickasaws, the Choc- 
taws, and the Seminoles, were the principal tribes yet to be added 
to this savage alliance. The British, through the Spaniards in 
the Floridas, with whom they were also in alliance, had prepared 
the minds of the southern tribes for the favorable reception of 
Tecumseh. The mission proving successful, savage war, with all 
its horrors and tortures, burst upon the defenseless settlements 
like a thunderbolt. What tongue can describe or pencil paint the 
revolting scene at Fort Mimms, or wherever else the infuriated 
savage could find the objects of his vengeance? Neither age nor 
sex was spared. All were doomed to instant destruction, or re- 
served for a slower process, by being subjected to brutalities and 
barbarities worse than sudden death. Amid the universal alarm 
and consternation all eyes were turned to Jackson—every voice 
proclaimed him the chosen leader to arrest the sweeping torrent 
of desolation. 

“Who can describe the wild and frightful scenes of that un- 
paralleled Indian campaign—the heroism of the leader—the ce- 
lerity of his movements—the fatigues of the march—the privations 
of the men—the impetuosity of the charge—every skirmish a 
victory ; every battle a triumph—the barbarian alliance dissolved— 
the savage tribes dispersed and pursued in every direction, and 
finally, reduced to submission in the brief period of six months? 

“The importance of these decisive and overwhelming achieve- 
ments can hardly be realized. The British allies of the Confede- 
rated savages, in pursuance of the plan of campaign as agreed 
upon with Tecumseh and the Prophet, were hovering around the 
Gulf coast; arming and drilling the Indians in the Floridas, medi- 
tating a descent upon Fort Bowyer and Mobile, preparatory to 
the concentration of the confederated forces upon New Orleans 
and Louisiana. Concurrent events in Europe were favorable to 
the success of the mighty scheme. The abdication of Napoleon 
and his flight to Elba had restored the hereditary monarchs to 
the thrones of their ancestors, and enabled Great Britian to with- 
draw her veteran troops from the continent, and hurl them upon 
the defenseless shores of the Gulf of Mexico, in concert with their 
savage allies. The destruction of the barbarian league by Jack- 
son, and the submission of the scattered tribes, had broken the 
force of the impending blow, and opened the way for a trial of 
strength, single handed, between the soldiers of freedom and vet- 
erans in the cause of oppression. At the critical moment, and 
as if by the hand of an overruling Providence, Jackson was ap- 
pointed major general in the army, and assigned to the command 
of the Southern division. Time will not allow me to more than 


570 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


glance at the most striking events in the campaign. The British 
were occupying the Spanish forts at Pensacola, stimulating the 
Indians to a renewal of hostilities, and preparing for a descent 
upon Fort Bowyer and Mobile, and ultimately upon New Orleans, 
as the chief point of attack. Jackson’s remonstrances with the 
Spanish Governor against harboring the enemy in what was pro- 
fessedly neutral territory being disregarded—his application to 
his own Government for permission to vindicate the violated laws 
of neutrality remaining unanswered—the absence of instructions 
on points of vital importance at a time when inaction was ruin— 
who does not remember with what resistless energy he threw his 
protecting arm around Mobile, provided for Lawrence’s heroic 
defense of Fort Bowyer, planted his little army in front of Pensa- 
cola, and when his messenger was fired upon by the orders of the 
Governor, stormed the batteries, entered the town, hauled down 
the British flag, drove the enemy into the sea, and had the Span- 
ish Governor at his feet, imploring mercy and forgiveness for the 
past, and faithfully promising a religious observance of the laws 
of neutrality in the future? Who can describe the rapidity of 
his movemnets for the defense of New Orleans—the magic effect 
of his presence in suppressing treasonable purposes—infusing 
confidence into the hearts of the desponding—his sleepless vig- 
ilance in watching the movements of the enemy within and with- 
out his camp—and his capacity for creating elements of defense 
where none had been provided? Who can forget his glorious 
victories on the 23rd of December and the 8th of January? Who 
has not admired the self-sacrificing courage of the hero, who, to 
save the city and prevent the dismemberment of the Republic, 
assumed the awful responsibility of superseding, the civil author- 
ities in the hour of extreme danger, in order, immediately, after- 
wards to lend his patriot arm to the maintenance of the supremacy 
of the law? Who can paint the moral grandeur of the scene 
where the victorious soldier—the benefactor of the nation and the 
saviour of the city—fresh from the theatre of his glory, with his 
triumphant army around him, stands calmly before the judge, 
whose dignity he had recently offended, in the performance of an 
imperative duty, and meekly submits to an ignominious sentence 
and a heavy pecuniary penalty? Behold him quieting the mur- 
murs of the indignant multitude, and extending his protection to 
the trembling judge, and bidding him proceed with his sentence. 
Follow him as he leaves the court, receiving the homage, the 
thanks, the prayers of a grateful.people, mingled with resentments 
and imprecations upon the judge! Hear him, in tones of elo- 
quence and power, enjoining upon them strict obedience to the 
civil as the paramount authority, since the necessity which caused 
its suspension had ceased to exist, and his conduct requires no 
other vindication. 

‘With the battle of the 8th of January the war is closed; New 
Orleans is saved; Louisiana remains a part of the American con- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY Sy jul! 


federacy; the idea of a barbarian empire is exploded; the Missis- 
sippi valley is reserved for the abode of civilization and Christian- 
ity; the proposition of the British commissioners at Ghent, that an 
unalterable boundary should be established for the Indians, from 
Cleveland, through the mouth of the Kentucky river, to the Gulf 
of Mexico, is rendered impossible; the British scheme of erecting 
an impassible barrier to the growth and extension of our great 
Republicisabandoned. These are some of the results of Jackson’s 
wonderful Indian and Southern campaigns, which terminated with 
his glorious achievements at New Orleans. Had the Indian war 
resulted adversely, the torch would have blazed from the lake to the 
gulf—New Orleans must have inevitably fallen without a struggle, 
and the greater portion of the Mississippi valley passed under the 
possessions of the British barbarian league. Twelve States and four 
organized Territories have since been erected out of the country 
which was thus to have been dedicated to barbarism under British 
protection! The tide of emigration, carrying with it all the elements 
of political progress, social development, and industrial enterprise, 
continues to roll westward until it mingles with the waves of the 
Pacific. With the return of peace the business of the country 
revives, credit is restored, energy and enterprise pervade every 
department of industry, and the country leaps forth upon the 
swelling tide of prosperity in its career of greatness. 

“Jackson was not permitted long to enjoy the social endear- 
ments and quiet repose of the Hermitage. At the instigation of 
Spanish officials and British emissaries, the tomahawk and scalp- 
ing-knife of the Seminoles were again spreading desolation and 
carnage over our southern borders. Jackson was ordered to re- 
pair to the scene of slaughter, with instructions to drive back and 
chastise the savage invaders, and with authority, if necessary for 
that purpose, to pursue them into the Floridas. You have not 
forgotten with what terrible energy he hurled his forces upon the 
enemy's headquarters at St. Marks—demolished their works— 
seized and executed the British incendiaries who instigated the 
massacres—pursued the fugitive savages—disregarded the pro- 
tests and threats of the Spanish Governor—descended on Pensa- 
cola—pursued the terrified Governor, with the murderers under 
his protection, to Fort Carlos, and planted the stars and stripes 
upon its battlements. By the swiftness of his movements, the 
power of his example, and the terror of his name, he reduced the 
savage tribes, humbled the Spanish authorities, and expelled the 
British emissaries. 

“He was thus enabled to terminate the war, provide security 
and repose to our frontier settlements, and return the same year 
to the shades of the Hermitage. This campaign laid the founda- 
tion for the acquisition of the Floridas, and the dispersion of the 
innumerable hordes of bandits and pirates who infested the coast, 
committing depredations upon our settlements and commerce, 
and finding shelter in the bayous and everglades. Upon the rat- 


O72 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ification of the Florida treaty, Jackson was appointed by’ the Pres- 
ident commissioner to receive the ceded provinces, and Governor 
of the new territory, endowed with all the civil and judicial as well 
as military authority which the Spanish Governors had weilded. 
Clothed with almost unlimited power, he exercised with a firm 
hand and unyielding nerve whatever authority was necessary for 
the protection of society and the suppression of violence. Ex- 
hausted by duty and exposure, his physical system sunk under the 
effects of the climate, and he was borne upon a litter through the 
wilderness to his beloved home on the banks of the Cumberland. 

“He declined the mission to Mexico, tendered by President 
Monroe, and would gladly have remained in retirement, had not 
the affection of Tennessee placed him in the Senate of the United 
States, and the grateful voice of the people called him to preside 
over the destinies of the Republic. Jackson came into the Presi- 
dency with his political principles well matured and immutably 
fixed. The exalted sentiments of personal freedom and sacred 
regard for individual rights which he had conceived in the turb- 
ulent times of the Revolution, and which had been so clearly dis- 
cernible in all the vicissitudes of his eventful career, it was now his 
mission to carry into the practical administration of the Govern- 
ment, and impress upon the public policy of the country. Time 
will not permit, even were the occasion appropriate, a detailed 
exposition of the leading measures and great acts of his brilliant 
administration. Nor, indeed, can it be necessary. The great 
and striking events of that animated period remain fresh in the 
memory, and vivid before the mental vision. He met each ques- 
tion as it arose with a directness and frankness in harmony with 
his previous life. He seemed to solve the most intricate problem 
of statesmanship by intuition. He perceived truth in its totality, 
without the tedious process of analysis, and was able to see the 
remotest consequences of an act while the wisest around him 
could only perceive its immediate results. 

“The high qualities which, on a different theatre, had sus- 
tained him in every emergency—enabled him to rise superior to 
all resistance—never failed him in his civil administration. Calm, 
patient, and even deferential in counsel, when his opinion was - 
matured and his resolution formed, he threw all the fiery energy 
of his nature into its execution. The history of his civil career, 
like that of his military campaigns, consists of a rapid succession 
of terrific conflicts and brilliant achievements, in which he never 
lost a battle or failed in a skirmish. His state papers will stand 
forth, so long as the history of this Republic shall be read, as im- 
perishable monuments to his statesmanship. While the present 
generation offers up the homage of grateful hearts for patriotic 
services to the noble spirits who were engaged in those fiery con- 
flicts, time must determine and history record the relative merits 
of the respective systems of political policy. 

“At the expiration of General Jackson’s second Presidential 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY SWE 


term he retired forever from public life, and repaired to the shades 
of the Hermitage. He continued to feel an abiding interest in 
public affairs without the least desire to re-enter the political arena. 
He had the satisfaction of seeing the line of policy, in support of 
which his mighty energies had been so long exerted, receive the 
sanction of the nation. He had the consolation of knowing that 
his official conduct had been approved by the constituted author- 
ities of his country, in obedience to the voice of the people, on 
every point in which it had been seriously called in question. He 
felt that his work was done—his mission fulfilled. The remain- 
der of his days were spent in the society of his family, in improving 
his farm, and dispensing a generous, unbounded hospitality. In 
the social circle, and around the domestic hearth, he was as simple 
as a child, remarkable for his amiability and his capacity for mak- 
ing all happy around him. Much of his time was occupied in 
conversations and meditations upon religious subjects. He who 
never feared the face of man was not ashamed to confess his fear 
of God and his faith in the Redeemer. In the fullness of hope 
he serenely approached the end of his earthly career, and died in 
the triumphant consciousness of immortality beyond the grave. 
His death produced a profound impression upon the hearts and 
minds of men. The voice of partisan strife was hushed, while a 
continent was clad in mourning and bathed in tears. All felt 
that a great man had fallen. Yet there was consolation in the 
consciousness that the lustre of his name, the fame of his great 
deeds, and the results of his patriotic services, would be preserved 
through all time—a rich inheritance to the devotees of freedom. 
He still lives in the bright pages of history, in the marks of his 
genius upon the institutions of his country, and by the impress 
of his character upon that of his countrymen. He lives in his own 
great example and by his hercic achievements. He lives in the 
spirit of the age—the genius of progress which is to ennoble and 
exalt humanity, and preserve and perpetuate liberty.” 


ORIGIN OF THE NEW ORLEANS EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF 
JACKSON AND OF THE CHALMETTE MONUMENT. 


A public meeting was held at the St. Louis Exchange, New 
Orleans, on January 11, 1851, with Mayor Crossman presiding, 
having for its object the erection in New Orleans of a memorial 
to General Andrew Jackson, who died June 8, 1845, and also to 
build a battle monument at Chalmette to commemorate Jack- 
son’s victory over the British January 8, 1815. A commission 
was appointed which created an organization known as “The 
Jackson Monument Association.’’ In 1852, the Legislature of 
Louisiana incorporated this commission, and on February 26, 
1852, passed an act providing for the construction of an eques- 


574 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


trian statue of General Jackson, to be located opposite the St. 
Louis Cathedral, in Jackson Square, and also to erect a battle 
monument at Chalmette. Ten thousand dollars was appropri- 
ated for the statue and five thousand dollars for the monument, 
and another act was passed empowering the governor to buy a 
piece of ground on the line of Jackson’s old entrenchments of 
January 8, 1815, for the erection of a monument. 


Pursuant to this act, the State of Louisiana bought from Pierre 
Bachetol for five thousand dollars the tract of land in the Parish 
of St. Bernard, known as the Chalmette plain on which the mon- 
ument now stands. Newton Richards became the contractor, 
and proceeded with the work of erecting the monument until the 
shaft was fifty six feet high, when the work was abandoned for 
the want of funds. The Civil War came on which demoralized 
everything in Louisiana and all the other Southern States, and 
the continuation of the work was delayed until the monument 
was finally finished by the United States Congress which began 
operations in 1908. 


By act No. 84 of the year 1888, the Legislature of Louisiana 
tendered the monument and ground on which it was located to 
the United States on condition that in five years Congress would 
make a suitable appropriation for the completion and preserva- 
of the monument. But Congress took no action on this tender, 
and by Act No. 8, of 1894, the Legislature of Louisiana transferred 
the monument and ground to the United States Daughters of 
1778 and 1812. By Act No. 41 of 1902 the Legislature again 
tendered to the United States the monument and ground with a 
condition similar to the first tender, but this tender also produced 
no results. 


In January, 1906, Mrs. W. O. Hart, then Vice President of the 
United States Daughters of 1776 and 1812, and afterwards Pres- 
dent of that organization, went to Washington, and through 
General Adolph Meyer, then a member of Congress from the 
First Louisiana District, was given a hearing before the Committee 


on Library of the House of Representatives, to which the bill had . 


been referred, and was also accorded an interview with Theodore 
Roosevelt, then President, who promised to sign the bill if it pas- 
sed Congress. 

The Library Committee was very much interested in the sub- 
ject, and asked that plans and specifications be prepared and sent 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 575 


on, which was done, they being prepared by Mr. A. F. Theard, an 
engineer of New Orleans. In the course of a few months, the bill 
was reported favorably, making an appropriation of twenty five 
thousand dollars, and accepting the cession tendered by the State 
of Louisiana. Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois, then speaker 
of the house, refused to allow the bill to come up, so it went over 
to the short session beginning in December, 1906. During the 
recess, work was started among the friends of Mr. Cannon, who 
was a candidate for re-election in 1906. Mrs. John A Logan, 
widow of the union general of that name, and a resident of Illinois, 
was brought to New Orleans, visited the battle field, and person- 
ally solicited the assistance of Mr. Cannon. Through the influ- 
ence of John C. Richberg, now deceased, an eminent lawyer of 
Chicago, and Hon Frank O. Lowden, subsequently governor of 
Illinois, Mr. Cannon agreed to allow the bill to come up, which he 
did on the morning of March 3, 1907. When it was called up, 
Mr. Mann, of Illinois, objected, and the bill went over unti! the 
afternoon, when at the personal request of Judge Robert C. Davey, 
then a member of Congress from the Second Louisiana District, 
and a personal friend of Mr. Mann, that gentleman withdrew his 
objection and the bill was passed in time to enable the President 
to sign it before the adjournment of Congress. The bill confided 
the care and custody of the monument and the grounds to the 
United States Daughters of 1776 and 1812. 


In June, 1907, the act of transfer of the State of Louisiana 
signed by Governor N. C. Blanchard, was, at his request, taken 
to Washington, by Mr. W. O. Hart now Treasurer of the Louisiana 
Historical Society, and Vice Chairman of the general committee, 
having in charge the magnificent celebration of the unveiling of 
the monument on January 8, 9 and 10, 1915. This celebration 
also commemorated the completion of one hundred years of peace 
between the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland and 
the United States. 

The monument when completed under the supervision of 
Mr. Theard in 1909 was 100 feet high, but was not formally unt 
veiled until, as above stated, January 8, 1915. In this unveiling, 
representatives of the President of the United States and the King 
of England took part. As the monument was unveiled, there 
arose to the top the flag of the United States of 1815, fifteen 
stripes and fifteen stars, presented for the occasion by the Ken- 


576 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


tucky Society of Louisiana, and also the flag of Great Britian, 
presented by the British Consul General in New Orleans, Mr. 
Hunt. 

It is rare that so conspicuous an honor and one that will go 
down with the passing years, ever came to husband and wife as 
that which came to Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Hart, of New Orleans, 
connected with the Chalmette movement. 

For years devoted to the Louisiana Historical Society, one of 
its active officers and recognized as a learned historical authority, 
Mr. Hart has lived to see accomplished the efforts and dreams of 
himself and wife and their coadjutors, the completion of the Chal- 
mette battle monument, and has lived to execute the highly hon- 
orable mission of carrying as the representative of the State of 
Louisiana the deed of transfer of the State to the Government 
of the United States, of Chalmette monument and grounds, and 
having the transfer accepted by the President of the United 
States. 

The separate honor to Mrs. Hart is one that was never vouch- 
safed before to an American woman. She went to Washington 
on a seemingly hopeless mission, to galvanize a dead enterprise 
into life and complete the monument on Chalmette plain that will 
for centuries testify to a marvelous victory by untrained citizen 
soldiers, lead by Andrew Jackson. Her name and fame will live 
long with Chalmette and her husband’s along with hers Through 
her efforts Congress appropriated $25,000.00 by which the parti- 
ally built monument was brought to completion. 


LETTER FROM FRANKLIN PIERCE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Washington, Jan. 31, 1856. 

“L. Heyliger, Esq., Secretary of the 
“Jackson Monument Association, 
“‘New Orleans, La. 
Site 

“T received your letter of the 21st, instant addressed to me in 
behalf of Messrs Joseph Walker, A. D. Crossman, J. B. | 
Plauche, Jos. Genois, James H. Caldwell, Charles Gayerre, and 
P. Seuzeneau, Commissioner of the Jackson Monument Asso- 
ciation, and inviting me to attend the approaching inaugeration 
of Clark Mills equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, in the city 
of New Orleans on Saturday, the 9th of February next. It is 
particularly fitting that such a monument to one among the most 
illustrious men of our own or any other country be erected in the 
City which by his genius and courage and that of the gallant men 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 577 


was preserved from capture and rapine by foreign foes, and in 
view of the very battlefield, rendered illustrious by one of the most 
glorious victories which mark the successive stages in the progress 
of our national greatness and strength. 

“So long as the mighty Mississippi shall continue to flow on to 
the sea, and bear upon its bosom the continual tribute of commer- 
cial and agricultural wealth; so long as the vast and fertile valley 
which it washes shall be the seat of powerful states and of throng- 
ing millions of men, so long will future generations make their 
pilgrimage of patriotism to the plains of Chalmette, and there, 
with grateful and admiring hearts dwell on the immortal memory 
of Jackson. 

“The people of the State of Louisiana and of, New Orleans 
especially, do well therefore to testify their gratitude for services 
which gave security to their hearths and homes, and their vener- 
ation for the memory of the hero in the erection of such a monu- 
ment in sight of the very field of fame which witness the crowning 
triumph of his military achievements. 

“But let us not speak of the victory won there as a mere local 
event in repelling invasion from the valley of the Mississippi, the 
whole Union was delivered and a thrill of exultant joy touched 
the hearts of the entire American people from the remotest moun- 
tains of the west to the farthest headlands of the east. With what 
emotions the grave defenders were received by the old and by the 
young; by the strong men and fair women of the Crescent C as they 
came from the field signalled by a victory which has no parallel, 
you will find it more easy to remember to express. 

“While the pulse is stirred at the thought of such a page in 
our history’s annals, it becomes us none the less to reflect on the 
civil virtues which threw a still brighter radiance, if possible, 
around the name of Jackson; and to remember that his fame as 
a soldier was equalled, if not surpassed, by his fame as a statesman. 
The lofty courage, the devoted patriotism, the stern integrity, the 
segacious comprehension which distinguished him in war was 
subsequently so preeminently conspicuous in peace as to secure 
for him a place in the hearts of his countrymen, second only to 
that of the great founder and father of the Republic. 

“Nothing would give me more sincere gratification than to 
unite with you personally in celebrating such an occasion; but the 
obligations of public duty render it impossible and compel me to 
content myself with expressing my cordial sympathy with your 
object, and thus, in heart, co-operating with you in doing merited 
honor to the hero of New Orleans. 

“IT am, with the highest consideration, your obliged fellow 
citizen, 


“Franklin Pierce.” 


37 


578 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


INAUGURATION 
Of the Equestrian Statue of 
Gen. Andrew Jackson, 
Saturday, February 9, 1856. 

“In order to prevent confusion and to insure the prompt for- 
mation of the procession named in the program of ceremonies 
for the inauguration of the equestrian statue of Gen. Andrew 
Jackson, on Saturday, the 9th instant; 

The GRAND MARSHAL directs the following formation 
of the Procession: 


“Ist. The Legion of Louisiana forming the leading Military 
Escort under the direction of Gen. H. W. Palfrey, will take their 
position on Chartres Street, the left resting on Canal. 

“2nd. The First Division composed of 

Jackson Monument Association 
Clark Mills, Artist, 
Newton Richards, Designer and Architect of Pedestal, 
Orator of the Day, 
Governor of the State and Staff, 

Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public 
Accounts, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public 
Education, Attorney General, Surveyor General, 

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
Mayor of the City and Recorders, 
Members of the Common Council, 
City Officers, 

Veterans of 1814-1815, 

Major Gen. Twiggs, U. S. A. and Staff, 

Officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, 
Major Gen. J. L. Lewis and Staff, 

Officers of the Militia, 

Gaitecae of the Port, Naval Officer, Surveyor of the Customs 

and Postmaster, 
Invited guests and distinguished strangers, 
Foreign Consuls, 
Judges of the Supreme Court, 
Judges of the United States Courts, 
Judges of the District Court and District Attorney, 
Clerks of the District Court, 
Justices of the Peace of the State, 
will meet.at the City Hall at half past ten o’clock and be formed 
on St. Charles Street in the order named and escorted from thence 
by the Grand Marshal and Assistants to their proper position. 
“3rd. The Second Division composed of the 
Free Masons, 
ered Lodge and subordinate lodges, 
and the fire department with banners under the direction of 
Assistant Marshall, Geo. W. Shaw, will form on the south side 
of Canal Street in the order named, the right of the Free Masons 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 579 


resting on the corner of Camp Street with their rear towards the 
river; and the right of the fire department resting on the corner of 
Camp Street, and their left towards Rampart Street. 

“The Third Division composed of the 


Screwmen’s Benevolent Association, 
Directors, Teachers, and Male pupils of the public schools, 
U. S. Receiver and Register of the Land Office, 
The Superintendent and Officers of the Mint, 
U. S. Navy and Pension Agent, 
Recorder of Mortages and Register of Conveyances, 
Clergy, 
Members of the Bar—Members of the Medical Society, 
Academy of Science, 
Administrators of the University of Louisiana, 
Law Faculty of the University of Louisiana, 
Medical Faculty of the University of Louisiana, 
Notaries Public, 
Mechanics Society, 
Association of Steamboat and Steamship Engineers, 
New Orleans Typographical Union, 
New England Society, 
under the direction of Assistant Marshal, Captain Charles L. C. 
Dupuy, of Gen. Palfrey’s Staff, will form on the center of Canal 
Street, the right resting on a line with the right of the Second 
Division in the order named. 
“The Fourth Division, composed of 


Keystone Society, 
Charitable Societies, 
Howard Association, 
French Benevolent Society, 
German Society, 
St. Joseph’s Society, 
Shamrock Benevolent Society, 
Portuguese Benevolent Society, 
Spanish Benevolent Society, 
Italian Benevolent Society, 
Board of Underwriters, 
Chamber of Commerce, 
Board of Health, 
Administrators of the Charity Hospital, 
United Laborer’s Benevolent Association, 
Incorporated Institutions and Other Societies, 
Sons of Temperance, 
Harbor Master, Port Wardens, 
under the direction of Assistant Marshal Major Robert Ellis, of 
Brigade Staff, will form in the order named on the north side 
of Canal Street, the right resting on the corner of Chartres. 
The Fifth Division composed of 


580 ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Captains of vessels and steamboats, 
And Strangers and Citizens generally, 

under the direction of the Assistant Marshal Major H. T. Sher- 
man, of Major General Lewis’ Staff will form in the order named 
on the side-walk west of Camp Street, the right on Canal Street. 

“The rear Military Escort, composed of the Volunteers of the 
First Brigade under the Command of Col. Henry Forno will be 
held on Lafayette Square for orders. 


“All persons desirous of participating in the ceremonies of the 
day are requested to join the procession as none but ladies will be 
admitted into Jackson Square until the whole of the procession 
has marched into the Square. The Marshals of the Different 
Societies will respond to the Assistant Marshals of Divisions as 
soon as they arrive on the ground. 

“Masters of vessels and Steamboats, and proprietors of Public 
Buildings are invited to display their flags on the day of the in- 
auguration. 

‘““Drays, omnibusses, and other vehicles are requested to avoid 
as much as possible the streets on which the procession is to form 
and move from the hours from ten and a half to twelve and a half. 


“FE. L. Tracy, Grand Marshal.” 


“Yesterday, the 9th, of February, 1856, will long be remembered 
by the citizens of New Orleans and the ‘strangers within their 
gates’. It will be looked upon as a bright spot in the city’s annals, - 
and be forever associated in the minds of all with the cherished 
memories which cluster around the Eighth of January, 1815, and 
the hero of that auspicious day. 

“Than Gen. Andrew Jackson no man has ever earned for him- 
self a dearer or more enduring place in the popular regard of our 
Southern people, and with the equestrian statue, the inauguration 
of which was witnessed amid so much pomp and circumstance, is 
but the substantial embodiment of a peoples’ gratitude, expressed 
in bronze and granite. 

“‘As if to do honor to the occasion ‘the glorious king of day’ 
arose in the East rejoicingly, and the radiance of his early beams 
was welcomed by thunderous salvos of the ‘loud mouthed cannon,’ 

“Heaven and earth seemed to smile prophetic approval on the 
coming ceremonies; and humanity, awakening to the inspiration 
of cheering omens, arose, determined to fix a new holiday on its 
patriotic calender. 

“While the artillery is booming, gay banners are thrown out 
from mast and balcony, and they flutter, as if in unison, with the 
thrill which stirs the public pulse. 

‘‘Thousands of brave men—the citizens soldiers of New Or- 
leans—are preparing, as the sun careers in brightness up the heavens, 
to take their part in the day’s ceremonial. Uniforms, which have 
of late been lying idle, are brushed and brightened, and when put 
on they enkindle martial memories in the breasts they cover. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 581 


‘One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name’ 
seems to be whispered in each ear, and the citizen soldier is ready 
to go wherever duty or honor calls. 

“But beside these there are other bands of stout and brave 
* men—the Firemen of the city, the Screwmen, and the various 
benevolent organizations—all of whom are to fill places in the line 
of procession and take part in the inauguration. Bands of music 
are also beginning to sound the clarion and fill the fife and ere 10 
o'clock arrives the whole city is astir. And never before did New 
Orleans appear so populous. Every street is full to overflowing. 
Manly and gentle forms jostle each other everywhere, and thou- 
sands of new acquaintances are formed on accidental introductions. 
Poetry and patriotism meet, and perchance they may hereafter 
harmonize ‘like perfect music with immortal verse’. Nor must 
we forget the children who are crowding toward Canal street as 
the great center of attraction. Their merry voices are heard and 
their laughing eyes are seen at every point; for not uninterested 
spectators are they, and some of them, after half a century shall 
have elapsed, will look back to the inauguration of the Jackson 
monument as making a cherished era in their lives. 

“As 11 o'clock approached, the various military companies, 
the civic dignitaries, the benevolent societies and other bodies who, 
had been invited to join in the procession, began to form into line 
on Canal street, under the orders of Gen Tracy, the Grand Mar- 
shal of the day. This line, if extended out would make from two 
and a half to three miles in length, but before it had formed in its 
entirety the first portion of it commenced its march toward Jack- 
son Square, where the monument had been erected. 

These movements were effected in strict accordance with the 
published programme, the Louisiana Legion forming the leading 
military escort under the command of General Palfrey. 

“Following the Legion were the Jackson Monument Associa- 
tion; the artist, Clark Mills; Mr. Richards, the designer and arch- 
itect of the pedestal; the Orator of the day; the Governor of the 
State and Staff, and in proper order, the various State, military, 
civic and other bodies who had been invited to participate in the 
day’s pageant. 

“At twenty minutes before 12 the first portion of the procession 
entered the ancient Place d’Armes—now Jackson Square—the 
name having been changed in honor of the Hero of New Orleans, 
after it had been decided to erect in its centre an equestrian monu- 
ment to his memory. 

“On entering the square it was found that great numbers of 
ladies were already present, and by their gay and animated appear- 
ance they made up for the want of flowers among the shrubbery, 
rendering the whole place beautiful even without the auxiliary 
aids usually rendered by Flora’s lovely sisterhood. 

“The statue, which stands in the center of the square, was 


582 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


veiled with a slight canvas covering, and to the right, looking to- 
wards the river, there was a canopy of flags, and a platform from 
which the inaugural oration was to be delivered. j 

“Still poured into the square the living tide—company after 
company, society after society—with music, banners and all the 
imposing appointments of a grand civic and military show. At 
length it was filled till it could hold no more, and the streets all 
around and the vast space extending from the square to the river, 
were crowded with one dense mass of interested spectators. But 
this was not all. The balconies of the palatial Fontalba Buildings, 
which ornament two sides of the square, were transformed on the 
occasion into picture galleries, from which creole beauty shone 
forth in all its charms. On these vast galleries and on those of the 
public buildings which extend along Chartres street, several thou- 
sands of fair women and brave men had taken their stand-points 
and while observing were themselves observed. Even the cupalo 
of the old City Hall and the tower of the Cathedral of St. Louis 
were not without their fair visitants, who, from dizzy heights, 
looked down on the vast sea of humanity beneath, and watched 
the day’s doings with most commanding vision. 

‘The view of the square and the surrounding was truly brilliant. 
Bright skies were above, bright eyes were around, and all the ac- 
cessories of the occasion were bright and cheering. Here were 
stalwart forms, not only from this city, but from all parts of the 
State and our sister States; and every portion of the wide-spread 
Union contributed its quota to the galaxy of beauty which shone 
around. 

“Among those conspicuous on the square were the veterans of 
1814-15, and to them the day was truly a proud one. A monu- 
ment was about to be inaugurated to the hero of a battlefield on 
which they were actors, and in that hero and in that battlefield 
in which they were actors, and in that hero and in that battle- 
field their dearest memories had long been centered. With them 
was the tattered banner under which the Louisiana militia fought 
and conquered on the plains of Chalmette. And well may they 
be proud of it, for it was wrought in gold by the fair daughters of 
the Crescent City and presented to them and their associates with 
a prayer for their success. Even in its shreds it is still looked 
upon with reverence. May it prove prophetic of future triumphs. 

‘““‘We noticed among the veterans one, who on the 19th. of Noy- 
ember, 1803, assisted in raising the first American flag which ever 
fluttered above that square. Previously the senoritas of proud 
Castile had looked love to ‘eyes which spoke again’, beneath the 
venerable sycamores which once towered above the Place d’ Armed. 
After that, when years had passed away, this now grey-haired 
veteran had joined in defending the city fron an invading foe. 
Another decade of years passed away and he participated in the 
ovation given by the city of New Orleans to the brave Lafayette; 
and at the end of another score of years he presents himself to 
take a part in the inauguration of a monument to Jackson. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 583 


“There were also the colored veterans, with their inimitable 
drummer, honored and honoring the occasion by their presence. 

“But we must not particularize, else we will run into prolixity. 
All looked well and acted well their part. 

““As soon as the square was filled, the venerable Gen Plauche, 
in an outburst of enthusiasm, looked toward the monument and 
exclaimed in French, ‘General Jackson, the saviour of Louisiana— 
saviour of Louisiana’. This was the signal of loud and repeated 
huzzas which made buildings in the neighborhood ring again. 

“At a quarter past 12, the Hon. A. D. Crossman, Chairman of 
the Association, introduced L. J. Sigur, Esq., the orator of the 
day, and immediately afterwards that gentleman proceeded to 
deliver the following eloquent and stirring address: 


ORATION OF L. J. SIGUR, ESQ. 


“Fellow-Citizens:—Those who saw the 23rd. of January, 1815, 
say it was as glorious a day of sunshine as the one which now smiles 
upon this scene. On that day this public place, all the avenues 
that lead to it, the porticoes of the ancient edifices which flank 
this venerable Cathdral and the galleries of the private dwellings 
of moorish aspect which then stood on either side of this square, 
were crowded with exultant masses of human beings. The little 
army which had a few days before displayed its valor in the field, 
stood here and around, in all the pride and pomp and circum- 
stance of glorious war.’ 

On that yonder spot and at either gate, rose triumphal arches, 
hung with victorious flags and garlands of bright flowers; beneath 
them beamed faces and forms of beauty as victorious and as bright. 
The roar of artillery—the strains of merry music—the shouts of 
applause, loud and incessant cheers, swelling anthems of praise es-' 
caping from the ailes of the old temple there, mingled in one wild 
and joyful din and proclaimed the emotions of the multitude. The 
people of New Orleans had assembled here to lift up their hearts to 
God in fervent thankfulness, and to pay the well-deserved tribute 
of admiration and gratitude to the hero, who under the direction of 
an all-kind Providence, had saved them from the insults of a haugh- 
ty foe, their city from pillage, and the arms of their common country 
from the dishonor of defeat. 

“We have met here to inaugurate a monument of deeper and 
broader significance than the ceremonies of that day. The feelings 
of mere gratitude that swayed the feelings of the generation that 
preceded, cannot affect us, at least to an equal degree. Our 
fathers had reaped the first and immediate fruits of Gen. Jackson’s 
victory. They celebrated their deliverance from dangers which had 
reached their very doors, and which they had seen in the face. 
Besides, looking only to the events which called forth their re- 
joicings, it was the controlling actor in those events whom they 
admired, loved and extolled. ‘ 

“However far reaching our sympathies may be, we can no more 


584 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


be expected to enter into the fulness of the peculiar sentiments 
which animated them, than we can confine our view to the same 
events and the same actor as they appear in 1815. The scene 
has expanded since that year and new and important events have 
crowded upon it. The General-in-Chief at New Orleans has led 
other armies—he has exercised higher command on a vaster field, 
where all the virtues and all the faculties which adorn humanity 
were called into action. In fierce civil strife, which involved the 
existence of principles affecting the destinies of millions, he has 
been the recognized*and beloved leader of millions. The acts 
of his long and varied life have displayed in daring relief all these 
features of his character, as a citizen, as a soldier and as a states- 
man. We have seen him run his full course, steady and irresistable 
like the great currents of the ocean—one and the same in all these 
different situations. He now rests in a hallowed grave and the 
achievements of his long career, commencing with the Revolution 
and extending almost to our day, have already become a part of 
our popular traditions. 

*“To us, therefore, fellow-citizens, the man of bronze who stands 
behind this curtain, can not be to us a soldier only, the saviour of 
a city only. It matters little that the artist, obedient to the ex- 
igencies of the place and the unities of his art, has cast him in the 
accoutrements of war and upon the field of battle. The mind of 
the spectator now and in future times, will leap instantaneously 
from New Orleans to Emuchfaw, from Emuchfaw to Florida, from 
Florida to Washington City. The qualities of intellect and char- 
acter which commanded success at the first places, opened the 
way to the last and the most eminent—that upon which ‘he has 
hewn his name there, in immortalness to stand as upon a pedestal.’ 
The prudence and wariness evinced in the preparations for the 
defense of New Orleans, the politic boldness which suggested the 
attack on the 23rd. of December 1814, the power of organization 
which in a few weeks fused the most discordant elements into an 
effective army, both in this city and a short time before in Alabama, 
the prompt and clear perception of the proportion between the end 
and the means which led to the occupation of St Marks, St Augus- 
tine and Pensacola, the loftiness of purpose which wins the good 
and virtuous, the commanding will which subdues the rebellious; 
do not these noble attributes and gifts constitute the true states- 
man as well as the successful chieftain? And does not the civil 
as well as the military career bear the impress of the gifts and 
attributes? 

“T am aware, fellow citizens,that mankind are reluctant to ac- 
cord eminence to one man in more than one field of human exer- 
tions. But I would do injustice to the hero and the patriot—to 
yourselves fellow-citizens, and to the convictions of my own mind, 
if deterred from the faithful discharge of my duties by the fear of 
encountering the incredulity of some, the lingering prejudices of 
others, or even the dying echoes of partisan detraction, I should, 


ANDREW JACKSON. AND FaRLy TENNESSEE History 585 


hold up to your admiration the triumphant soldier only. Poster- 
ity, will I think look upon his military achievements as only a part, 
and the less important part, of him—a noble torso covered with 
the scars which the poet has called ‘the livery of honor’ but after 
all a torso only. It was in the councils of the nation, at the helm 
of State, and as the representative and champion of great princi- 
ples of Government, that he rose to the proportions of an histor- 
ical character. It was upon that high eminence that he met the 
giants of his day and overcame them. I discard entirely the idle 
discussions which have so often been renewed concerning the au- 
thorship of the admirable State papers of his Administration. 
These disputes may be interesting to the literary antiquarian; in 
any other view they are worse than futile. For the importance 
thus seemingly given to the literary merits of political documents, 
has encouraged the production of those high-sounding electioneer- 
ing manifestoes which of late years have repeatedly exposed us to 
dissapointment at home and ridicule abroad. It has falsified 
in the popular mind the standard measure of statesmanship. The 
statesman, thinks, contrives and acts. The labor of illustrating 
and enforcing his views, is of a ministerial and subordinate order. 
That such were the relations of Gen. Jackson to his cabinet—his 
the head that conceived and the wisdom that directed—theirs 
the hands that executed—cannot now be fairly questioned. His 
own character, every feature of it, is stamped upon the whole 
course of his administration. It was one of startling initiative 
of bold measures. No personal considerations, no timid councils 
could induce him to halt, or lure him into circuitous paths. The 
iim of his companions in the Western wilds was not more true 
10r the lead from their rifles more direct to the mark than he to 
ls object. He scorned the shifts and expedients so often resorted 
-o by timid politicians to cast upon their successors the diffculties 
vhich should receive a solution from themselves. He met every 
juestion as it arose, and pressed it to a final and complete settle- 
nent. He never shrunk from the exercise of all the powers—and 
o their full extent—which the constitution and laws conferred 
‘pon him, whenever the occasion and the interests of the nation 
emanded it. I think I may safely assert that these qualities 
longed unitedly or even separatedly, to any great degree, to 
one of the otherwise eminent men who composed his cabinet. It 
) therefore his mark, not their, which is upon that eventful period. 
le was a great and commanding figure of the drama; they, his 
ssistants only. 

“Tt is with due respect to the opinions of others, and without 
ie slightest intention to ruffle the political passions which now 
e dormant, that I shall allude to some of the measures of Gen. 
ndrew Jackson’s administration. I shall do so, not to discuss 
‘lose measures, but to illustrate those features of his mind and of 
is character which constituted him the ‘American Statesman’ 
ar excellence. I mean gentlemen, the statesmanship which is 


586 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the legitimate offspring of our own institutions—which has a 
family resemblance to them—which never loses sight of those 
institutions and applies them as the highest standard and the sur- 
est test of the value of political acts and measures. No one, how- 
ever superficial his observation may be, can fail to mark, through- 
out the political life of Gen. Jackson, that close, constant and 
spontaneous conformity with the forms and spirit of the govern- 
ment which he administered and that unswerving fidelity to 
its objects. He seemed the very impersonification of that Govern- 
ment, possessed by its spirit. 

“Behold him as the representative of popular sovereignty. 
Who among his predecessors and successors more industriously 
provoked the expression of the popular will? Who more sternly 
and fearlessly enforced it when it was once ascertained? You 
recollect how broadly and squarely he made the issue—to be or 
not to be—with the United States Bank, before he became a can- 
didate for a second term. If the pursuit of power had been his 
game, he might have secured it with much more certainty, if not 
by conciliating, at least by refraining from attack upon a gigantic 
moneyed institution, which had become a power in the state. 
But his object was to ascertain the popular will, and he pursued 
that object regardless of the consequences upon his own fortunes. 
A true ‘American Statesman’—he would have scorned to gain 
or retain power by those concealments of opinion, or even equivo- 
cation in matters of public concernment, which subvert the very 
foundations of our free institutions and present them in the light 
of mere delusions involved in laborious forms. 

“The veto of the bill rechartering the bank had made the issue 
before the people—that issue had been tried and Gen. Jackson 
had again been elevated to the Presidency by an increased major- 
ity. Behold him now, executing the popular verdict, amid desert- 
ing friends or, at the most, timid supporters, against a powerful 
party, and in the face of threats of personal violence, of civil war 
and bankruptcy. ‘The removal of the deposits, determined upon 
and carried out, admits the advic2 of a majority of his cabinet, 
while it was justified by acts of malfeasanc2 on the part of the 
bank, was viewed by Gen. Jackson much more in the light of a 
measure necessary to wrest from the bank those means of influence 
which it would have used freely to thwart the popular will on a 
new application for a recharter. For in the paper which he 
read to his Cabinet, and which was afterwards published, in which 
he defends his course and relieves them from all responsibility, 
he lays little stress upon the fact that the bank has become an 
unsafe keeper of the public funds; and he rests his vindication 
upon the ground that the removal was but the beginning of the 
execution of the national will. The bank was writhing under the 
veto of 1832, but it is well known that it had not lost all hope of 
obtaining a recharter even under the administration of Gen. 
Jackson. It was then brewing that most extraordinary panic 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 587 


which we all remember, under the pressure of which it expected 
to increase the number of its friends in Congress. The removal 
of the deposits curtailed its means for mischief, and ensured the 
triumph of the popular will. 


“It is not my purpose, fellow-citizens, to enter into an elab- 
orate recital of the political acts of Gen. Jackson. ‘The occasion 
does not call for it. I have selected only a few, in which his char- 
acter is most prominently displayed. I have alluded to his strug- 
gles with the bank for another reason besides those which I have 
already mentioned. His conduct in those transactions which has 
been a text for declaration and unjust accusation, far from indi- 
eating lust for power, furnishes conclusive evidence of his entire 
indifference to it. The fearless assumption of responsibility, in 
questions of great importance, even within the disputed limits 
of the law, lead oftener to the loss than to the continued possession 
of power. Such at least, we must infer, is the general opinion of 
men in power; for that virtue certainly is not a common one in 
republican governments. But when that assumption of responsi- 
bility implies the exercise of a given power, in its entirety and to 
its utmost limits, it is still more rare and more perilous. Few 
dare to tread the indistinct line which separates legitimate from 
arbitrary power—few dare to stand upon the verge of the Tarpeian 
rock—few are ambitious of its honors. No public man knew 
better than Gen. Jackson the danger of assuming responsibility. 
His fame had been nearly wrecked by the invasion of Florida, 
undertaken with the unofficial or indirect sanction of Mr. Monroe. 
It could not have been the love of power therefore, which prompted 
these bold acts; but a stern resolve to do his duty—his whole duty— 
at all hazards. Such is now the judgment of the great majority 
of his countrymen. ‘They have absolved him from the charge of 
ambition, and they justly regard his errors as the excesses of that 
self-sacrificing patriotism, which was ever ready to peril life, fame 
and power for their welfare and the honor of their country. 


“The threatened opposition of South Carolina to the collection 
of the revenues, which if carried into effect must have led to a 
collision, and perhaps to the dissolution of the Union, exhibited 
the intense nationality of Gen. Jackson. His love of the ‘whole 
country’ rose to the full height of the crisis. Whilst in tones of 
the most impassioned eloquence, which went to the very heart of 
the nation, he appealed to their patriotism, to the memories of 
‘ the past and to the hopes of the future, he was prepared for action. 
It was the authority of his name and of his example, much more 
than any legislative measure, which allayed the storm and soothed 
the troubled waters. May God in His mercy raise up, from the 
midst of the people, some such mighty leader, some such king of 
the tempest, to lead us through the darkness, and to dispell the 
storms which are gathering fast around us. 

“TI have said enough, fellow-citizens, to convince you that Gen. 
Jackson is not, as he often is representated, a one-sided character, 


588 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


a local name; but a complete type and a name suggestive of all 
those great qualities which mark the great among mankind to be 
shining lights forever. I may now turn to the more softly shaded 
bowers of private life, to show you this man of high temper, of 
stern resolve, of irresistible purpose, exercising the sweet and gen- 
tle charities, which like the beautiful Arethusa, flowed in an uninter- 
rupted stream, beneath the surface of his public life. His fidelity 
to his friends has become proverbial—he never forsook them—he 
never could be induced to harbor suspicion of them. The devoted 
partner of his bosom he loved with all the tenderness of a first 
and youthful love—with all the ardor of his impulsive nature. The 
memory of his mother’s suffering and devotion, continued to the 
last as fresh in his mind as when more than a half century before, 
she had visited him, a boy and a prisoner of the British at Camden. 
At the mere mention of her name, the big tear would start from 
his eye, and roll down his rugged cheeks. A woman’s love, that 
holiest and noblest of human affections—which fashions and exalts 
human character—inpels, directs and sustains human exertion— 
hovered, like a good angel over his whole life. What wonder if 
it produced the usual imoressions and smoothed the soldier into 
the polished and dignified gentleman? His was the simple polish, 
the genuine courtesy which springs from a genial and kind nature. 
He disdained to wrap himself up, while alive, with the mere ‘pomp 
and parade’—in the mere outward show of the conventionalities 
of the world—for the same reason that would not suffer his re- 
mains to be deposited in a sarcophagus which had once been the 
resting place of a Roman Emperor. It was repugnant to his 
Repwblican heart. 

“T would not have you suppose, fellow-citizens, that it is my 
intention or desire to rob the man of his humanity and to exhibit 
him before you as an ideal, unsubstantial perfection—as an im- 
palpable, shapeless and bodiless fiction. He was a real man, of 
blood and of flesh, of bone and of sinew— a hero of Homer not the | 
fanciful, hazy creation of a dreamy bard. Like all the men who 
have been called to act great parts in human affairs, he shone by - 
the possession of commanding virtues, not by the absence of faults— 
by positive not negative qualities. He was the genuine product 
of the highest type—of our democratic institutions—a great man 
of the people— one of them in his habits, in his sympathies, in 
his dislikes, though towering above them. It is for this that his 
history, although comparatively modern, has sunk already as deep 
in our hearts as an old legend. It is for this that his countrymen 
appreciated him so well, and awarded him, while yet he lived, 
that fame which others have reaped only in a distant posterity. 

“It is for this too, fellow-citizens, that we, the people, are here 
in anxious expectation to hail the plain but beautiful monument 
destined to perpetuate the form and features of a great leader of 
the people. 

“Thanks to you gentlemen who have carried out this patriotic 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 589 


work, thanks to the noble artist who has breathed the breath of 
life into this bronze. New Orleans may now cast away the weeds 
of her widowhood. The dead soldier who slept at the Hermitage 
has thrown aside the cerements of the tomb, and is now in the 
midst of us. It is here that he should have been always, on the 
scene of his early glory, on the banks of the great stream, where 
like the genius of the Cape, he hurled his storms and thunder at 
the invader. Here let him stand forever to excite to noble virtue 
and patriotic deeds; to speak of the glories of the past and to light 
the way to glories of the future. As long as the Mississippi rolls 
his flood to the ocean, may the sun light his face to meet the eyes 
of our latest posterity. Let us rejoice that our children can not 
enter this square to indulge in their sports, without beholding 
him. They will ask us ‘who is this’? Some of us will answer: 
‘It is General Jackson; an unprotected orphan, without family, 
without friends, without fortune, who rose through the force of 
his own genius, from an humble station to the most exalted station 
that the nation could bestow.’ Another will say ‘he was the 
very soul of honor; during a long life of almost constant conflict 
in which all the fiercest passions came into play, he never was 
guilty of a mean or ungenerous act.’ Another “He never with- 
held his services from his country—he never shrunk from the per- 
formance of a duty, public or private, however perilous or painful 
it might be.” The patriot soldier will say “He closed a war of 
disaster in a blaze of glory’. Let us rejoice for ourselves that he 
will meet our view daily; for a vigorous and original thinker has 
said: ‘Great men taken up in any way are profitable company. 
We can not look, however imperfectly, without gaining something 
by him.’ 

“He is the living light-fountain—which it is good and pleasant 
to be near—the light which enlightens, which has enlightened 
the darkness of the world; and this is not a kindled lamp only, 
but rather a natural luminary shining by the gifts of heaven—a 
flowing light-fountain of native original manhood and _ heroic 
nobleness, in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well with 
them. The breast of the veteran will swell with pride at the sigh 
of his beloved and well-trusted leader. All—all—the young and 
the old—the men of this and of ccming generations, invoking 
blessing upon the artist who has preserved his manly form and 
features, will hail in unison the man without fear and without 
teproach; the bright pattern of American chivalry and American 
patriotism. 

“During the delivery of his address Mr. Sigur was frequently 
interrupted by applause. 

“As soon as he had ended, the covering was taken from the 
statue, and the bronze horse and his hero rider were revealed to 
the assembled thousands amid deafening cheers, the loud acclaim 
of artillery and spirited music from the bands in attendance. 


590 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“This done the Hon. A. D. Crossman led forward Mr. Clark 
Mills, the artist by whom the statue had been executed and intro- 
duced him to the spectators. 

Mr. Mills delivered the following address: 

“Ladies and gentlemen:—The statue before you represents 
one who, with a handful of men, proved himself the savior of your 
beautiful city. Gen. Jackson is there representated as he appeared 
on the morning of the 8th. of January, forty-one years ago. He 
has advanced to the center of the line, in the act of review; the 
lines have come to present arms as a salute to their commander, 
who is acknowledging it by raising his chapeau, according to the 
military etiquette of that day. His restive horse, anticipating 
the next move, attempts to dash down the line; the bridle hand of 
the dauntless hero being turned under, shows that he is restrain- 
ing the horse, whose open mouth and curved neck indicate that 
he is feeling the bit. I have thought this explanation necessary, 
as there are many critics who profess not to understand the con- 
ception of the artist. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, it will be to my memory indeed a 
dark day when I shall forget the vast crowd of faces around me; 
and should this humble effort meet your approbation, my proud- 
est reflection will be conciousness of having perpetuated in 
imperishable bronze, the form and features of one whose life and 
character have always been my admiration. 

“Mr. Mills was cheered to the close and music followed, well 
discoursed. 

“Gen. Plauche then advanced, and announced that the cere- 
mony was ended, and the commissioners and invited guests on the 
platform rose to depart, being of course followed by others, the 
firing of artillery yet continuing. 

“The venerable Bernard Marigny then announced his inten- 
tion of addressing the spectators in French as soon as the firing 
of the salute was concluded, and accordingly did so at some length 
and with great spirit, his remarks eliciting applause at many points. 
They were principally directed to a review of the great event in 
commemoration of which chiefly the statue had been erected, and 
to a eulogy on the patriotic feelings which had been excited and 
rendered of imperishable strength. 

“The immense throng now endeavored to get out of the square, 
down from the thronged roofs and balconies, from the Cathedral 
steeple, the lamp posts, the masts, the rigging, the piled merchan- 
dise on the levee, and every other point that had been seized as 
affording vantage ground to view the imposing ceremonies, and to 
get homeward. ‘This, however, was not to be affected rapidly or 
easily. Many ladies and children suffered not a little in getting 
through the gates of the square, and after they had got out the 
dense crowds in the streets effectually prevented anything like 
rapid progress. 

“Numerous wreaths had been prepared for the purpose of 


a 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 591 


decorating the statue as soon as it should be unveiled, but it had 
been decided, for sufficient reasons, that it would be wise not to 
assent to that addition to the ceremony. 

“Altogether, we can say, a more brilliant, imposing or enthu- 
siastic ceremony has never been witnessed under any circumstances, 
anywhere within the limits of the Union. Not less than 60,000 
persons were in and around the square during the inauguration, 
some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles to witness the in- 
teresting sight. 

“Everything was conducted in a most harmonious and satis- 
factory manner, and the arrangements generally were calculated 
to reflect high credit on the Monument Association, and to Gen. 
Tracy, the Grand Marshal of the day, to whose management the 
details of the pageant had been intrusted. 

“After they had left the square, the Governor, most of the 
members of the Legislature, and various civic and military func- 
tionaries, repaired to the residence of Mr. Kennedy, the U. S. 
Marshal, and partook of an ample colation which had been gener- 
ously provided by Mr. K. Subsequently the Governor reviewed 
and inspected the Legion, the Washington Artillery, the National 
Guards and the Continental Guards at the Place d’Armes; on 
leaving, he received a marching salute at the gates, when he was 
escorted to his quarters. 


THE INAUGURATION DINNER. 


“After all the ceremonies of the day were over, the Governor 
of the State and his suite, the gentlemen of the Legislative com- 
mittee, the members of the Monument Association, the artist of 
the statue, and other guests, sat down to a splendid dinner, at the 
St. Charles Hotel, provided by the city authorities. 

“The dinner was provided and served in the best style of Messrs. 
Hall and Hildreth, and some two hundred gentlemen sat down to 
partake of it. Gen. Lewis, Mayor of the City, assisted by Alder- 
man Lugenbuhl and Col. Stith on the part of the Council, and Gen. 
Tracy, Grand Marshal of the day, and Gen Palfrey presided. 

“After the cloth was removed the regular toasts of the evening: 
The President of the United States, the Governor of the State, 
the Mayor of the City, the artist of the statue, Clark Mill, Esq.; 
the Jackson Monument Commissioners, the memory of Andrew 
Jackson and his fellow officers, Coffee, Adair, Carroll and Thomas; 
the veterans of 1814-15; the memory of Washington, the memory 
of Gov. Walker, the Judiciary of the State, the press and the ladies- 
were responded to by Gov. Wickliff, Mayor Lewis, Mr. Mills, Jas. 
H. Caldwell, Esq.; Gen. Palfrey, Mr. Barnett (a veteran of 
1814-15); Judge Reynolds, Col. F. A. Lumsden and Col. Stith. 

“In reply to the toast in his honor the Governor made a few 
happy remarks, and closed with a toast complimentary to the May- 
or and Council of the city. The Mayor closed with a felicitous 
compliment to Mr. Mills, who responded briefly and fitly, and 


592 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


paid a feeling tribute to the Memory of Jackson. Mr. Caldwell’s 
response to the Commissioners comprised a review of the doings 
of the Board, and a statement that the battle-ground monument 
was in progress, and needed only the aid of the Legislature to 
carry it into complete and successful execution. 

“To the toast in honor of the surviving veterans of 1814-15, 
Messrs. Palfrey and Barnett made some eloquent remarks, and 
the latter wound up by toasting Clark Mills, Esq., who has given 
us a statue that proves we have native talent worthy of the ad- 
miration of the world. Judge Reynolds responding to the Judic- 
iary, gave “The statue in Jackson Square and the ladies who 
honored its inauguration with their prescence.’ Col. Stith was 
called on to respond to this sentiment and to the regular toast to 
the ladies and did so in a few happily expressed remarks; and Col. 
Lumsden, after a few words in reply to the toast to the Press, 
closed with one to the cause of ‘Public Education and the Public 
Schools.’ 

“All these sentiments were enthusiastically responded to by 
the company present, and a good band of music performed appro- 
priate airs between each of them. 

“Col. Jno. A. Jacques, of the National Guard, gave ‘New 
Orleans; her children require no monument to remind them of 
the greatness of Andrew Jackson, and the debt of honor and 
gratitude which they owe him.’ 

“Mr. A. W. Smith gave ‘The memory of Andrew Jackson, 
fearless as a soldier, firm as a statesman, and true as a friend.’ 

“Major Beard gave ‘Gov. Wickliff; should the policy set forth 
in his inaugural message be endorsed by our representatives, the 
State of Louisiana must flourish commercially, and be regenerated 
socially.’ 

“Several other volunteer toasts were given by gentlemen 
present, but we were obliged to cut short a report to meet the 
requisitions of the press before the company separated. Those 
present seemed to enjoy the occasion to the utmost, and passed 
an evening of the most enthusiastic hilarity. 

‘““And so ended the Day of Inauguration of the Jackson Monu- 
ment. 


—WNew Orleans Daily Picayune, February 10th., 1856. 
ORATION ON ANDREW JACKSON. 


BY MR. W. O. HART, OF NEW ORLEANS, TREASURER OF THE LOU- 
ISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ON THE 83RD. ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANSS. 

Mr. Hart’s address is reproduced in full as follows: 

“It has been said that there is no man whose place cannot be 
filled, but sometimes it is very hard to find one to fill it; and so 
also it is true that every occasion finds a man ready to fill it and 
while that man may not have been indispensable, yet his absence 
may have changed the current of events. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 993 


‘The Battle of New Orleans of January 8th, 1815, may to the 
superficial mind seemed to have accomplished nothing because 
fought when the war was over tho not, to the knowledge of those 
in America (in fact, news travelled so slowly in those days that 
it was not until the following March that General Jackson was 
informed of the previous treaty of peace, and so incensed was he 
at the report of what he believed to be false that he imprisoned 
the editor who published this item of news.) 

“T am not enough of a military man to recount any of the 
features of that engagement, but it is so well known, that nothing 
that I might say would add anything to what my hearers already 
know. What would have been the effect had the battle resulted 
differently and the enemy invaded our fair city and state, it is im- 
possible to say, but that great loss and damage to life and prop- 
erty would have followed is a foregone conclusion. ‘The result of 
this battle brings to mind the words of the prophet: ‘The race 
is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.’ That in 
England there were no two opinions as to what the result would 
be is shown by an extract from a British journal, published in 
December or January, just before the battle; it was stated ‘The 
British are no doubt by this time in possession of New Orleans * * * 
the enemy’s forces are principally militia who are compelled to 
serve; this compulsion, however, was far from the truth, because 
if troops were ever anxious to show their prowess and valor, it was 
the troops assembled under command of General Jackson. 

“Tt is hard to think of Jackson as anything but as a soldier; as 
a soldier, his life is indissolubly connected with the history of this 
country. As a boy, he was a member of the revolutionary army, 
and suffered cruel imprisonment at the hands of the British; and it 
is one of the curious train of circumstances that bring people to 
the front to find that he was recommended to President Madison 
by Aaron Burr, whom the General subsequently entertained at 
his palatial home near Nashville, the Hermitage. Burr, in his cele- 
brated trip thru the West and South no doubt heard enough to 
convince him that Jackson was the popular hero in that part of 
the country and that with him at the head, the troops would not 
know defeat. 

“Jackson was a man of many occupations; he was a lawyer, 
judge, planter, merchant, senator and school master; as a lawyer, 
he first went into what is now Tennessee, sent by the Governor of 
North Carolina as a prosecuting officer of the far western part of the 
old north state. Asa lawyer and a judge, he was successful, and 
tho it is said that his opinions did not contain much law, yet they 
were noted for their strict justice, which nowadays, at least, is by 
no means synonimous with law. And, as a lawyer, the general 
was fond of his joke, one of which might have resulted disastrously 
in a celebrated opponent, tho they afterwards became the best of 
friends; in those days of old, the lawyer carried his few law books 
with him from place to place, generally wrapped up in paper or in 


38 


594 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


saddlebags. Jackson knew that at the trial of a case his opponent 
would read from a celebrated law book known as Bacon’s Abridge- 
ment, and during the recess of the court, Jackson abstracted from 
the bag of his adversary the book and placed in its place in the 
paper which had wrapped it, a small piece of bacon of about the 
size and shape of the book, so that when the grave and learned 
counsel opened the bag to support his argument by reading to the 
Court from his law book, his dismay and consternation must have 
been great when he found what he had to offer to the court. A 
duel was the result, but, fortunately, neither was hurt. 

“But of all the occupations of Jackson, the most grotesque 
seems to be that of the school master; it is said that in course of 
time, he managed to write his name legibly, but was never able to 
spell correctly. Mr. Parton, has said that his ignorance of law, 
history, politics, science, and everything which he who governs a 
country ought to know was extreme. He did not even believe the 
world was round—his ignorance was a wall around him, high and 
impenatrable; he was imprisoned in his ignorance and sometimes 
raged around his little enclosure like a tiger in his den. Up to the 
time he was elected President, it is said the only book he had ever 
read was the Vicar of Wakefield, so that the only theory upon 
which he could have considered himself competent to be a school 
master was those he was going to teach knew less than he did tho 
he knew nothing. It can hardly be thought that he had as little 
conception of education as some later day politicians, one of whom, 
it is said, applied for a position on the police force and was rejected 
on account of his ignorance and when told of this then applied for 
a position on the school board: 

“The administration of Jackson as president has given rise to 
so many differences of opinion and so many volumes have been 
written on the subject that all that is necessary to say at this time 
is that whatever may have been his shortcomings in that regard, 
all must admit that he was thoroughly American throughout, and 
that he had no sympathy with those who antagonize the laws of 
their country. 

“Another trait of Jackson’s character that must endear him to 
all, was his chivalrous defense of women. One notable instance 
of this probably for a time changed the train of events and made 
as a successor of Jackson, a man who became such thru Jackson’s 
assistance given him because he had sided with Jackson and with 
certain members of the Cabinet in opposition to those who were 
attacking the wife of another member. 

“It is sad on this eighty-third anniversary of the Battle of New 
Orleans to find that the United States Mint, erected partly on the 
spot where Jackson stood when he reviewed his troops marching 
to the plains of Chalmette in December, 1814, and which for that 
reason if for no other, would endear it to the people of New Or- 
leans, as been closed and perhaps forever. This, with the uncom- 
pleted conditions of the monument around which we stand, which 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 595 


has been totally neglected, by the United States, shows its in- 
difference to this part of the country. But I go further and say 
that the Chalmette Monument should not be localized; Jackson 
belongs not to Louisiana, nor to Tennessee, but to the United 
States. (It seems, however, that some parts of the country are 
rather doubtful of his fame, for it was stated in Chicago during 
the Exposition that Jackson Park, where the great fair was held 
was the place that the General was named after). And the bat- 
tle of New Orleans is as much a part of the history of the United 
States as the Battle of Concord or the surrender of Yorktown. 


“The battle of New Orleans showed that the American soldier 
is ever ready arid at short notice to repel the attack of the invader 
and the time may come, tho I hope it never will, when that fact 
may have to be emphasized again; and there is nothing that so 
adds to the patriotism of a people as the perpetuation in marble 
and stone of the great events. 


“Seventy years ago, General Jackson, on this anniversary, 
was in the city of New Orleans and perhaps someone within the 
sound of my voice had an opportunity of seeing him, and it must 
have been a great day to this city when that event took place. 


“The eminent members of Congress, who visited our city last 
week were surprised, it has been said, at the incomplete condition 
of the monument and that it was being allowed to fall into decay 
and ruin thru the indifference of the general government until 
taken in charge by the ladies who now care for it and who, with 
the limited means at their disposal, have improved and beautified 
its surroundings. As one of those Congressmen said, “The Chal- 
mette Battlefield is one of the Nation’s most sacred spots; grand 
old Jackson and his Kentucky and Tennessee riflemen killed a 
greater number of the enemy with less number of bullets to do it 
with than has ever been recorded in history. As the monument 
should be, it would teach foreign nations a lesson in patriotism. 
This country has an opportunity to teach them that lesson for on 
that old battlefield, American valor was displayed as much, if not 
more, than anywhere else in the broad land.’ 


“Let us hope that the eloquent words of Mr. Lentz may carry 
conviction to the powers that be and that before many more an- 
niversaries, we may stand around such a completed monument as 
the occasion deserves and the country owes. 


“T had occasion during the month of October to visit the Her- 
mitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, and to see how the place 
has been preserved and restored by the ladies charged with its 
care by the State of Tennessee; it, and the Chalmette monument 
show that whatever woman undertakes to do is well done. One 
of the features of the Hermitage is Old Alfred, now nearly ninety- 
five years of age, and the favorite body servant of the General; 
with his faculties unimpaired, he is a link between the past and 


aa Lie Vt 


596 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 


the present; and if anyone has any doubts of the General’s great- 
ness he had better not express them in Alfred’s presenc2, for there 
would be trouble. 

“I met at Nashville, the namesake of the General, and the 
most enthusiastic admirer of another person that I ever saw; with 
leisure at his command, he is traveling thru the country and ex- 
pressed his intention of standing by the grave of every president. 
This is a pratriotic thought,and one which all Americans ought to 
have, and carry out if within their power. As I stood by the grave 
of Andrew Jackson, near his old home, I knew that, ‘After life’s 
fitful fever, he sleeps well.’ Huis wife, to whom he was so devoted- 
ly attached, died, as we all know, just after his election to the Pres- 
idency, and before they had left the Hermitage for Washington, 
and it is said that from the moment of her death he became a 
changed man; that the roughness of his speech (and sometimes I 
am sorry to say he was more than rough) was a thing of the past and 
in course of time, he became a member of the church he built for 
her, and which yet stands in active use, attended by a faithful 
few. So that after all the struggles and trials, and trials and tri- 
umph of life, which had brought him all the rewards that could 
fall to the lot of man, he found repose in the consolation of religion; 
he found there that peace which the world, cannot give and went 
back to the church of his mother, from which he had early strayed, 
not-withstanding her prayers to the contrary. And if those 
who go before can know what happens on this earth, what a con- 
solation it must have been to that mother when her son in the 
evening of life sought his Maker. 

“TI can do no better in closing these few remarks than to quote 
what was said by Chief Justice Taney at the time of Jackson’s 
death: 

‘’The whole civilized world already knows how bountifully by 
providence with those high gifts which qualified him to lead both 
as a soldier and as a statesman but those only who were around 
him in anxious deliberation when great and mighty interests were 
at stake, and who were also with him in the retired scenes of do- 
mestic life in the midst of his family and friends, can fully appre- 
ciate his innate love of justice, his hatred of oppression in every 
shape it could assume, his magnanimity, his entire freedom from 
any feelings of personal hostility to his political opponents and 
his constant and unvarying kindness and gentleness to his friends. 

‘Another round of applause greeted Mr. Hart as he concluded, 
and then Mrs. John B. Richardson stepped forward and presented 
him with a beautiful bouquet in the name of the association of 
which she is president. 

“Mr. Frank L. Richardson was then requested to present the 
great guest of honor of the day, the venerable octogenarian, 
“Colonel Frank D. Richardson.”’ 


ee 


Bo 


a 


i 


v 


JOHN H. EATON. 


Secetary of War in Jackson’s Cabinet, March 9, 1829 to June 18, 1831; United States Senator from Tennessee 
1818-1829; Governor of Florida 1834-1836; Minister to Spain 1836-1840, See Chapters 13 and 22, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 597 


Sc 
a ee CHAPTER 22. 


co Appeal to the public in 1831 by Major John H. Eaton 
in reply to Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien 
in the Peggy O'Neal Eaton controversy. A care- 

fully prepared defense of his wife, whose character : 

had been made a political issue. = 

: al 


“CANDID APPEAL 
To The 
“AMERICAN PUBLIC 


“In Reply To 
“MESSRS. INGHAM, BRANCH AND BERRIEN, 


“On The 
“DISSOLUTION OF THE LATE CABINET 


“BY JOHN BH. EATON. 


“CITY OF WASHINGTON 
“PRINTED AT THE GLOBE OFFICE. 


aieok” 


“City of Washington, September, 1831. 
“TO THE PUBLIC: 

“Tt is with extreme reluctance that I appear before the public 
upon a subject purely of a personal character. To me, nothing 
could be more painful than the necessity of bringing into discus- 
sion, in the newspapers, anything which concerns my private and 
domestic relations. In civilized society, a man’s house is his castle, 
and the circle of his family a sanctuary never to be violated. 
He who drags before the public its helpless inmates, and subjects 


598 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTorRY 


them to rude assaults, deserves to be considered worse than a 
barbarian. Against those who commit such sacrilege, and shun 
an honorable accountability, the public will justify an appeal, 
which, under other circumstances, might not be considered ad- 
missable. I expect not by this effort to silence those who have 
been assailing all that is dear to me. It may open afresh the 
fountains of their abuse. It is probable, that the very remorse 
and shame which an accurately drawn picture may produce, will 
excite my persecutors to raise clouds of fresh calumnies to break 
upon me with redoubled fury. Let it all come! My head is un- 
covered, and my bosom bare. 

“There is another consideration which would seem to impose 
silence. ‘These are times of angry political contest, unsuited to 
dispassionate inquiry. Already have the enemies of the President 
made use of my private relations to injure and harrass him. 
In attempting to represent him as devoting his thoughts and his 
power to further my views and wishes, they seek to blind the 
people to the principles and acts of his administration. They will 
doubtless seize even upon my humble efforts at self-vindication as 
means of promoting that design, seriously ‘calculating by their 
machinations, that the people of the United States may be wrought 
into a ‘ tempest of passion,’ and thus induced to forget the signal 
success of his foreign negotiations, and the unparalleled pros- 
perity and happiness which, under his administration, our country 
enjoys. 

“But to all these consequences I submit myself with entire resig- 
nation. A portion of the community will at least do me justice. 
They will perceive that the President is in no need of any develop- 
ments from me to give proofs of his integrity, and that it is not for 
his sake that I present myself before the public. Itisa paramount 
duty which I owe to myself and to my family, and which shall be 
performed. Others may conceive, but I cannot describe, the pain 
those attacks have inflicted. It was indeed enough that I was 
assailed in private circles, while I was in office; but retiring from 
its labors, with a view to sit down at my own home, in Tennessee, 
it was but a reasonable expectation to indulge, that I might escape 
a repetition of these assaults, and be permitted to enjoy my fire- 
side and friends in peace. But instead of putting an end to this 
unfeeling war, my resignation served to make my enemies more 
bold. What before was whispered in dark corners, now glared in 
the columns of the newspapers. Men who had been my friends, 
who had received favors at my hands, who had partaken of the 
hospitalities of my house, and given pledges of friendship at my own 
board, became my deadliest enemies, while I still confided in them. 
I sought that redress which wrongs so wanton and deadly provoked, 
and which public opinion, under such circumstances, has always 
justified. It was refused in a way which added insult to injury; 
and I was then accused, by one of the malignant calumniators, as 
having sought revenge at the head of a band of assassins. Not 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 599 


satisified with privately injuring me in my own, and the honor of 
my household, and shrinking from an honorable and just account- 
ability, these persons have, one after another, come before the 
public, to give countenance and sanction to the calumnies of a 
reckless press. Mr. Ingham, Mr. Branch, and Mr. Berrien, with 
evident concert, and deliberate design, by filling the country with 
erroneous and discolored statements, and substituting falsehood 
for truth, have sought to consummate the ruin which their con- 
duct in office so insidiously began. 

“What can I do? What course adopt? There are persons 
committed to my charge who are dear to me. I am their only 
protector. Shall I see them worse than murdered, by men who 
claim the polish and the culture of civilized life, and not lift my 
hand and my voice for their rescue? These gentlemen express a 
desire to preserve their characters, as a precious inheritance for 
their children. Is the good name of a mother, of less value to her or- 
phandaughters? Did they forget, thatshe whom sorelentlessly they 
pursue, and who in nothing ever wronged them, has two innocent 
little children, whose father lies buried on a foreign shore? Had 
these little ones ever injured them? Were they and their mother 
so much in the way of these gentlemen, that in their malignity they 
should consent to sap the foundation of their future prospects in 
life? Had they no remorse, in conspiring and seeking to rob them 
of all that villany and fraud had left them, the inheritance of a 
mother’s good name? And if they could be stimulated in their 
addresses to the public, by the desire of transmitting to thezr chil- 
dren a spotless honor and unsullied name, what might not be 
expected of me, in defense of the slandered wife of my bosom, and 
her helpless, unprotected children? Attacks on myself, I disre- 
gard. A man’s character is in his own hands; in his bosom he 
knows how to protect it. It is by his own acts only, that he can be 
degraded. Not so with a female. The innocent and the guilty 
alike, the envenomed tongue of slander may reach and destroy. 
It is a withering blast, which can blight the sweetest rose, as well 
as the most noisome weed. 

“Although I expect nothing at the hands of those who can 
violate the laws of social life, and all the precepts of ‘ holy charity; 
yet by an exposure of their motives and designs, I may be able to 
render their future malignity powerless. This induces me to make 
this appeal to my countrymen, and to their award to trust it. 
There is in the public mind intuitive honor, a native sense of jus- 
tice, which revolts at wanton attacks on female character, and in 
the end will visit the unfeeling assailants with terrible retribution. 
To these I appeal, and on these rely; not in the hope to silence the 
malignant and the vindictive, but to make their attacks to recoil 
upon themselves. 

“A place in General Jackson’s Cabinet, by me, was never de- 
sired. My ambition was satisfied with a seat in the Senate which 
thrice had been kindly bestowed upon me, by my fellow citizens 


600 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


of Tennessee. Distrust in my competency to discharge the duties 
of one of the Departments, and a reluctance to encounter its 
lobors, induced me to prefer my situation in the Senate. About to 
enter upon untried scenes, with a limited knowledge of the char- 
acters and feelings of those by whom he was to be surrounded, the 
President felt anxious to have near him some of his long tried 
personal friends, in whom he had entire confidence. He desired 
that Judge White, my colleague in the Senate, or myself, should 
accept one of the Departments. I urged it upon Judge White, 
because I considered him better qualified, and better adapted to 
the station, than myself. He declined it. I then felt it to be my 
duty to accept the offer of the President. He had just lost the 
partner of his bosom, and was solitary and disconsolate. As in 
his kindness he seemed to think I could be serviceable to him, it 
did not seem consistent with the friendly relations which had 
long subsisted between us, to leave him at such a moment. 

“Mr. Van Buren was appointed, because the President had ~ 
confidence in his talents and integrity, and because he appeared to 
be the expectation of the country. Mr. Ingham was selected, for 
the reason that the President was induced to believe that the 
democracy of Pennsylvania desired it; Mr. Barry, from a confi- 
dence reposed in him by the President, derived from his personal 
knowledge of his worth and merits. Between the first and last 
named gentlemen and myself, the most cordial friendship has 
always subsisted; nothing has ever arisen to interrupt in the least 
our friendly relations. 

“Mr. Branch and myself were born and reared in the same 
county of North Carolina, educated at the same college, and had 
been associates and friends, in early and in more advanced life. 
I solicited his appointment as a member of the Cabinet, and at 
the President’s request informed him of the selection. He made no 
objection, not the least, save on the score of a modest distrust of his 
competency, and expressed at the time much gratitude towards 
the President, and exhibited much good feeling towards myself. 

“With Mr. Berrien I had been on terms of intimacy, and sup- 
-posing him to be a man of talents and honor, was pleased that he 
was selected. The President requested me to confer with him in 
relation to his acceptance. At that time we were in habits of the 
kindest intercourse. He seemed highly flattered by this manifes- 
tation of the President’s confidence, and offered no objection to 
an acceptance, except intimating a possible interference with his 
private business. The next day he informed me that he- would 
accept, which reply I communicated to the President. 

“T met all the members of the Cabinet as friends, personal’ 
and political, to whom was assigned the high destiny, by harmony 
of feeling among themselves, of giving unity of design and vigor 
of action to the administration of General Jackson. In the same 
light, I am sure, did he consider us. In the singleness of his heart 
nd the ardor of his patriotism, he suspected not that there was 


ANDREW JACKSON AND Earty TENNESSEE History 601 


mongst us, any other object, than, by our cordial support, to 
able him in the Cabinet, as he had done in the field, to fill the 


_ Measure of his country’s glory." Far otherwise were the feelings 


and purposes of Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien, as in the 
course of this exposition, will, I ‘believe, satisfactorily and fully 


“Mr. Berrien in a late address to the public says: 

“The annunciations of the names of the intended Cabinet 
Seemed to me, however, to present an insuperable bar to my ac- 
ceptance of the office which was tendered to me. I ‘thought I 
foresaw clearly the evils which have too obviously ‘ resulted from 
the selection. A gentleman high in the confidence of the Presi- 
dent whom-he consulted, expressed his decided conviction, found- 
‘ed on a long and intimate knowledge of the President’s character, 
that he would himself speedily see, and correct the evil. I yielded 
to those suggestions, and took my seat in the Cabinet.’ 

“A writer in the Telegraph, of the 14th July last, believed to 
be Mr. Berrien, speaking in behalf of Mr. Ingham, makes the 
following remarks: 

“Pending the organization of the Cabinet, the President was 
informed by several persons of high standing, and those his strong 
party supporters, that there were objections to Major Eaton, 
which would lead to difficulties not likely to be removed. It 
Was not necessary for Mr. Ingham to take any part in the affair. 
Every one knew that public sentiment would, in due time, con- 
centrate on what was amiss, and correct it.’ 

“Tn the Telegraph of the 28th July, probably by the same writer, 
it is asked: 

“By whose advice was it that Judge McLean was arranged to 
the War Department before the Cabinet was announced, in order 
to remove the ‘ malign influence,’ which even then threatened the 
disolution of the party. It was by the personal, political and long 
tried friends of the President, that this advice was given; and it 
was by the same advice that these gentlemen retained their seats 
in the Cabinet in the confident hope that the President would 
sooner or later see his error and correct it.’ 

“These extracts carry on their face evidence of a common 
origin. If not penned by the same hand, they must have sprung 
from the same councils, were all written with the same views and 
same object, and disclose with sufficient clearness to whom I am 
indebted for the long, covert, and at last, open attacks upon me 
and my household, as well as their purpose. Certain gentlemen, 
who styled themselves the ‘ personal, political, and ‘long tried 
friends of the President’ undertook, it seems, without his knowl- 
edge or consent, to arrange and fix his Cabinet. I, who had 
been his particular friend and associate for twenty years; who had 
adhered to him ‘ through good report and through evil report,’ dur- 
ing two bitter contests for the Presidency, and who, against my 
wishes was selected as a member of his cabinet, was to be set 


602 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTORY 


aside as unworthy in the estimation of these gentlemen, to associate 
with him or to participate in his councils. ‘This secret cabal of 
exclusive friends advised Mr. Berrien to accept a seat in the cab- 
inet under the secret expectation that I would be driven from it. 
By the same persons, Judge McLean was arranged to the War 
Department, their object being expressly to get rid of me. They 
advised Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien, to cleave fast to 
their hold, which they did, even under alleged ‘indignity and 
insult ’ too, in the ‘ confident hope that the President would speedly 
see and correct the evil.’ Without the President’s knowledge, 
and without mine, this cabal of ‘ personal, political, and long tried 
friends,’ were thus endeavoring to control all the cabinet arrange- 
ments, and secretly to place around the President men of their 
selection and stamp. It was not for him to select his own counsel- 
lors, or decide who were his ‘ personal, political, and long tried 
friends,’ men who had supported him only when they had lost all 
hope of Mr. Calhoun, who had joined his standard only when their 
favorite candidate had disappeared from the contest, and who had 
supported him as a secondary choice. Your Inghams, Berriens, 
and others, were now arrogating to become his exclusive counsel- 
lors, and to thrust from his presence as unworthy of his trust and 
confidence, those who had supported him for his own sake, whose 
attachment was cemented by years of confidential intercourse, 
whose faith and energies were pledged to his support, and whose 
hopes were all concentrated in the success and prosperity of his 
administration. 

‘“Mr. Branch was made the instrument of abler heads and at- 
tempted to become a manager in his business. In his recent 
letter, he mentions a call which he made on the President previous 
to my nomination to the Senate, at which he arrogantly represent- 
ed that my selection would be improper and unfortunate, and gave 
his reasons, which appear to have related solely to my family. 
He also states he then came to advise me against accepting a place 
in the cabinet, admitting that the charges made against my family 
were false, but representing ‘ what use the opposition would make 
of it,’ and that ‘ the enemies of the President would not fail to 
make a handle of it.’ He says that he placed Mrs. Jackson and 
Mrs. Eaton on the same footing, and desired to save the President 
‘from recollections which would be painful and distressing.’ Mr. 
Branch has a treacherous recollection. He kept no note book, or, 
like his co-partner, Mr. Ingham, he has accommodated his ‘notes 
to emergencies. I can put him right in this affair, not doubting 
his admission of the truth of the narration I offer if honor be left 
him, although he may deny the motive which I feel persuaded, 
influenced him at the time. 

“Failing in the attempt to prevent my appointment, and to 
dissuade or rather deter me from accepting, Mr. Branch was next 
made the instrument of a piece of secret management, having in 
view the same result. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 603 


“Tt was suggested to the President after the first arrangement 
of the Cabinet was made, that Mr. M’Lean entertained objections 
against remaining in the Post Office Department. It was known 
that the President was disposed to gratify him, by placing him in 
another Department, if he could do so with a proper regard to 
others previously selected. This, it seems, taken in connection 
with my known repugnance, under any circumstances, to under- 
take the labors of that Department, furnished a hint to those who 
wished my exclusion from the Cabinet of which they hastened to 
avail themselves. Mr. Branch declared that the President might 
place him where he pleased. He should be satisfied; and proposed to 
me, that we should, if the President approved it, assent to the plac- 
ing of Mr. M’Lean in either of the Departments assigned to us as 
he might choose, to which I assented. The War, Navy, and Post 
Office Departments were then considered open to re-assignment 
according to the will of the President. The result was Mr. M’Lean 
was arranged to the War Department, Mr. Branch to the Post 
Office, and myself to the Navy Department. This did not meet 
the object. Mr. Branch made unexpected difficulties, and at the 
desire of those who proposed the change, the original arrangement 
was restored. 

“TJ suspected no other than a fair and honest motive in all this; 
but we are now informed through the expositions recently made in 
the Telegraph, that all Mr. Branch’s movements originated in 
the ‘ advice’ of certain‘ personal, political and long tried friends of 
the President,’ given with a view, as is now expressly stated, ‘io 
remove,’ me from the Cabinet. 

“At length the Cabinet was formed. Mr. Berrien expressly 
says, that he entered it, only because he expected ‘ the President 
himself would speedily see and correct the evil ’ of my appointment; 
and that he clearly ‘foresaw the evils which have resulted from 
the selection.’ His declaration is no doubt true. No prophets 
foresee future events so precisely and so certainly as those who hav- 
ing the means in their own control, are determined to bring them 
to pass. Foreseeing the evils, he must have foreseen the means 
through which their correction was to be brought about. He 
must have foreseen, that he and his associate friends intended to 
use the influence and consequence which office gave, to accomplish 
their expectations, the persecution of my family, the attempt to 
degrade me, and all the arts which subsequently they have em- 
ployed to procure my removal. 

“How could so much be foreseen, if it had not been predetermin- 
ed? No prophecy could have been so confidently relied on if it 
had not then been resolved by a cabal of the President’s pretended 
‘friends,’ with a view to concentrate public opinion, that I and my 
family should be proscribed from intercourse, with that portion of 
society over which they and their families had or could have in- 
fluence. Nota doubt is left on my mind, that before the nomina- 
tion of the Cabinet to the Senate, the means of operating on public 


604 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ized opinion and forcing the President to exclude me were devised, 
arranged, and fixed upon, by and with the knowledge and appro- 
bation of Messrs. Ingham and Berrien, if not of Mr. Branch; and 
the means to be employed under their boasted sense of honor, an 
honor which in their bosoms inspired an earnest desire to trans- 
mit to their children, ‘an unsullieid, good name’ were, the abuse 
and slander of a mother with two nnocent daughters whose good 
name was blended with hers, and in attacks upon my integrity 
and honor. Did they reason themselves into the belief that the 
inheritance of a parent’s good name was of no value only as it re- 
garded their children; and that whether others lived or perished 
was not material if they and theirs were safe? 

‘Did I merit such course of treatment from Mr. Berrien? We 
had served together for several years in the Senate of the United 
States. He was invited to and was present at my marriage six or 
eight weeks before. We were in habits of daily friendly inter- 
course; on my part, free and unrestrained, and, as I supposed, 
equally soon his. He professed to be my friend and such I thought 
him. Was it honorable, then, and was it just, to hide from me all 
the ‘ evils which he ‘ foresaw,’ and suffer me to run blindly upon 
inextricable difficulties? Should he not have warned me that not 
‘the opposition,’ not ‘the enemies of the President’ merely, as 
Mr. Branch states, but his friends, ‘his personal, political and 
long tried friends,’ aye, even those whom he had selected as mem- 
bers of his Cabinet, viewed my selection as an evil, and intended 
to use it to distract his councils, embarrass his administration, 
and provide for a successor? Had Mr. Berrien frankly informed 
me that he and his associates considered my appointment ‘an 
insuperable bar’ to their acceptance, an issue would at once been 
tendered. I should have desired the President to excuse me and 
given him my reasons, and then, for the sake of harmony, he would 
have discharged either me or them. But all was concealed from 
me, and only against the probable course of the opposition, the 
enemies of the President was I advised and warned. I was not 
taught to expect that in Ingham, Branch and Berrien I should 
find these very enemies who were smiling upon him and me, with 
unqualified professions of devotion and friendship. Against their 
assaults it was hence impossible to guard. Again, I ask was it 
just or honorable in Mr. Berrien, entertaining the views which he 
has recently avowed, to conceal them from me and thus lead me 
blindly forward upon a mine which he knew was prepared for my 
destruction ? 

‘‘However he may excuse himself for his practiced concealment 
towards me yet was he bound in duty to the President and to the 
country, to communicate his views frankly and fully to him. He 
knew the importance, nay absolute necessity, of entire harmony in 
the Cabinet, and that the views of the President in relation to the 
reformation of the government and home interests of the country, 
could not be accomplished without it. Mr. Berrien knew that 


EE —— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 605 


the President had a right to expect unity of feeling and action 

* amongst those whom he had selected as his counsellors; and that 
in justice to himself and to the people who had elected him, he 
would not knowingly constitute a Cabinet of discordant materials. 
Yel’ clearly foreseeing all the evils which have resulted,’ he concealed 
his feelings and his views and suffered a Cabinet to be formed be- 
tween whose friendly association and cordial co-operation there was | 
an ‘insuperable bar,’ which he clearly saw; but which the Presi- 
dent didnot. By this concealment and want of candor, he suffered 
his friend and benefactor to be led into error in the very first step 
of his administration, and which in common with other enemies 
he is now attempting to wield to his destruction. On whom ought 
the responsibility of organizing such a Cabinet to rest? On the 
confiding friend, who, judging of men by their professions, selected 
those as its members whom he believed to be friendly to each other 
and devoted to the success of his administration; or to those de- 
ceitful individuals, who, foreseeing all the evils which have resulted, 
kept them concealed from the President, and entered his Cabinet 
only because they expected such discord and division to arise, that 
“ public sentiment would concentrate’ upon one of their colleagues 
and force his removal? 

“The questions so gravely raised and discussed in the public 
newspapers about visiting, leaving a card, and invitations to ‘ large 
parties ’ or small ones, in this city, cannot but appear matters of 
derision to the American people. Who calls upon his neighbor, or 
invites him to eat and drink with him, and who does not, is a matter 
of no concern to the people; and to them it must appear ridiculous 
that statesmen and Cabinet counsellors have thought it necessary 
to disturb them with matters so trifling. But even these have been 
rendered of some importance as developing the motives of men, and 
accounting for events of higher importance. And in this view is it 
that I am about to introduce such a topic and beg to be pardoned 
for doing so. 

“After my marriage in January, 1829, my wife and myself 
visited Philadelphia and were absent from Washington two weeks. 
Amongst those who had called in our absence to visit and pay us 
the customary congratulations, were Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, their 
cards had been left. In cities, leaving at a neighbor’s house a card, 
a small piece of pasteboard with the name upon it, is called a visit. 
Not long afterwards, we called at Mr. Calhoun’s lodging to return 
the civility. After sending in our names, we were invited up to the 
Vice President’s parlor where Mrs. Calhoun was alone and received 
us with much politeness. We spent a short time quite agreeably 
and took our leave. Afterwards these calls were not repeated on 
either side. This was a short time before it was understood who 
would compose the Cabinet of General Jackson. 

“Another trifling incident is worthy of note. When it was as- 
certained certainly that I would be Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun 
requested the appointment of one of his friends as my chief clerk. 


606 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


To another gentlemen who made the same request, I made a prom- 
ise to comply with Mr. Calhoun’s wishes. Considerations not« 
thought of at the time induced me to change my determinations; 
in consequence of which, I declined to make the appointment and 
sent an explanation to the gentleman to whom I had given the 
promise. None was offered to Mr. Calhoun, for none was asked 
and to him no promise had been made. From that time he broke 
off all intercourse with me, official as well as private. 

“Soon after the Cabinet was organized, indications of those 
secret views which Mr. Berrien now openly avows, began to mani- 
fest themselves. The motive was not apparent, yet was it suf- 
ficiently evident that there was a settled design to put a ban on 
my family, and render my position at Washington disagreeable 
tome. ‘This was to be promoted by all the influence and impor- 
tance which high station conferred on some of my colleagues. 
Confederacies were formed and efforts made to awaken prejudices. 
To give countenance to the confederates and to aid their efforts, 
old slanders were revived, and new ones circulated. Families com- 
ing to the city were beset on the way and on their arrival. No 
means which ingenuity could invent or malice make use of, were 
left untried to give tone to public sentiment, ‘ to make it concen- 
trate’ and force the President to separate me from his councils. 
Hope gave the assurance that in a little while he would see public 
opinion concentrated, and would ‘ speedily correct the evils.’ 

“Let me not be misunderstood. I never complained of anyone 
for not associating with me or my family. It is the right of every 
man and of every woman to visit whom they please. To see my 
house filled with unwilling or reluctant visitors, constrained to call 
by the command of power, could never be desired by me. Happily, 
I was never dependent on such authority for friends, associates and 
visitors. Always, when my doors were open, at ‘large parties,’ 
and at social calls, I met friends with cordial hearts and happy 
faces, who evinced by their frank and open demeanor that they 
came of their own volition, and not through hope of reward, or 
fear of punishment. It is true I did not meet some of my colleagues 
or their families, nor some of their associates of the same political 
stamp; but I met ladies and gentlemen quite as respectable and 
equally as agreeable. If, as is true, I and my family were not in- 
vited to the houses of Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien, so 
neither were they invited to mine, and in this we were equal; and 
neither, as I conveive, had a right to complain. 

“Mr. Berrien’s-family never did refuse to visit with mine for 
they never had the opportunity. Custom required, when they 
came to the city, being last in their arrival, that we should first 
call on them if we desired their acquaintance; but we never did call. 

‘How ridiculous does this single fact render Mr. Berrien’s 
publication, which he has set forth with such grave formality. He 
had ascertained the sense of society here, he says, and conformed to 
it in this matter, when in fact he never had an opportunity to con- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 607 


form to, or depart from it. He maintains that the President 
threatened to dismiss him because he would not compel his family 
to visit where he did not choose they should, when in fact they 
never had an opportunity to visit there. Throughout he presents 
me and my family as craving the society of his, which he haughtily 
refused, when, in fact the first, the natural and the usual advance, 
on our part, had never been made. 


“It will be seen, then, that had the President set out to reg- 
ulate the intercourse of society and to direct its social relations, 
he ought to have begun with me, not Mr. Berrien. He must have 
threatened to dismiss me, if I did not compel my family first to 
call on his and leave a card. What! force Mr. Berrien, under such 
circumstances, to force his family upon us! ‘The President cer- 
tainly ought first to have forced us to give them an opportunity 
to decline our acquaintance. To force together unwilling people, 
and particularly to begin with the wrong persons, would indeed 
appear an odd and strange procedure. 


“In the autumn of 1829, new attacks began to be made, in 
whispers, on my integrity. It was said I had conspired with my 
wife’s first husband, Mr. Timberlake, to defraud the government of 
large sums of money. Other attempts to get rid of me, having 
failed, I was now to be presented as being in default to the govern- 
ment through fraud practiced on it. Mr. Timberlake had been a 
Purser in the Navy, and this charge was based upon a reported de- 
ficiency in his accounts with the public; and on a private letter of 
mine, detained in the 4th Auditor’s office, showing that on my 
suggestion, he had remitted money to me. Copies of my private 
confidential letters to him had been taken from the office that I 
might not escape through apprehended indulgence and favor, on the 
part of Mr. Kendall. Matters were considered well arranged, 
and the proof complete to show that this delinquency was wholly 
occasioned by remittances of money to me and which was yet in 
my possession. Such were the whispers circulated through the 
society of this place. But a close investigation, which occupied 
some time, showed that Mr. Timberlake’s account had been de- 
prived through a series of shocking frauds, of credits to the amount 
of from 12 to $20,000, and that justly he was largely a creditor, 
not a debtor, to the Government. But with mutilated books, ab- 
stract of accounts missing, and the inventory gone from the De- 
partment, his family can only appeal, under all the circumstances, 
to the justice and honor of the country, for redress. 

“While slander held its open day and midnight round of whisper 
on this subject, I received from some malignant being, who sub- 
scribed himself Iago, the following note: 

“Sir, I have written a letter to Mr. Kendall about the money 
that paid for O’Neal’s houses. You know what I mean. Re- 
venge is sweet, and I have you in my power, and I will roast you 
and boil you and bake you; and I hope you may long live to pro- 


608 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


long my pleasure. Lay not the flattering unction to your soul 
that you can escape me. I would not that death or any evil thing 
sheuld take you from my grasp for half the world.’ 

‘‘Who the writer of this fiendish note is, I have never ascertain- 
ed. I cannot turn my thoughts on an enemy so implacable that 
he would be unwilling the man he hated should find repose in death. 
Yet is it in character with the acts of those whose forecast pointed 
to the means by which the evil of my selection as a member of the 
Cabinet, was to be made apparent and the President forced ‘ speed- 
ily to see and correct the evil.’ If I could have been driven from all 
respectable society or had fixed upon me collusion and fraud in 
obtaining the funds of the Government, then would the Cabinet 
have been relieved of my presence and the prophecy of Mr. Ber- 
tien completely fulfilled. 

“Congress had now commenced its first session after the in- 
auguration of the President. ‘The recgmmendations in his message 
had been received with uncommon applause. But it was soon 
perceived that little, in furtherance of his views, was to be expected 
from some of the political gentlemen who were professing regard 
to the administration. Movement amongst some of my col- 
leagues, with others in the same political interest, indicated a dis- 
position again to wage against me a war of exclusion. Rumors of 
a combination to force me from the Cabinet attracted the Presi- 
dent’s attention. He suspected that a portion of his Cabinet 
had entered it in disguise, and had fomented some of the mischief 
he had encountered; and accordingly determined, if it should appear 
that they were guilty of such duplicity and had combined to harrass 
and drive out one of their colleagues, they should share the fate 
they were preparing for another. While reflecting on the course 
proper to be adopted, Colonel Richard M. Johnson called on a visit; 
and to him he disclosed his difficulties and intentions. Colonel 
Johnson entertained a better opinion of these gentlemen than to 
believe they harbored hostile views towards me, or had entered into 
a combination to expel me from the Cabinet. Accordingly he 
solicited the consent of the President to converse with them as a 
friend, that by ascertaining the suspicions entertained to be in- 
correct, he might relieve them from the imputation. He had no 
other authority or permission than this. The mission was of his 
own seeking; he was actuated solely by a desire to maintain har- 
mony and if he could, to be of service to these gentlemen. Wheth- 
er he spoke upon politics, religion, philosophy, ladies, cards, in- 
vitations to large parties or small, social or political intercourse, all, 
all was upon his own responsibility and upon his own authority. 
Through him the President made no proposition, no requisition, 
and no threat. For myself I knew nothing of it. 

“Tt is a little remarkable that neither of the three gentlemen 
in their published statements speak of any proposition as com- 
ing directly from the President, which was considered at all insult- 
ing or improper. Though they insist that Col. Johnson was auther- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 609 


ized to threaten, and did threaten them; yet not one pretends that 
directly the President insinuated any thing of the kind to either. 
“It is strange, passing strange,’ that Col Johnson, a man of known 
integrity, should deny this, strange that when they met the Presi- 
dent, he breathed to them nothing like it, and yet stranger still, 
that in defiance of these proofs and these circumstances, they still 
insist that they were insulted! Who now will wonder that the 
Cabinet was changed, or who maintain that it ought to have been 
longer continued? No sooner had Mr. Branch stated, that Col. 
Johnson had threatened their dismissal, than it was promptly de- 
nied by the President, who said he would forthwith send for Col. 
Johnson; and for that purpose called a servant. Why did the 
messenger not go? Mr. Branch explains! ‘It is unnecessary to 
send for Col. Johnson for your word is sufficient.’ And why is that 
word not now sufficient? Then, Mr. Branch received it as true, 
told it no doubt to his colleagues, and yet do they come before the 
public coldly to assert as true what then was given up as a mistake, 
an entire misconception on their part. Content with the expla- 
nation offered at the time, convinced of the incorrectness of their 
impressions these gentlemen now assert their displeasure and dis- 
content, and at the end of fifteen months, come out and maintain 
that to be true which before had been given up as a false and in- 
correct impression. As for myself, I can say and do truly say that 
I never uttered or brought to the consideration of the President, 
any complaint in reference to myself. I was always content to 
keep the redress of my own wrongs and injuries in my own hands, 
and to ask the aid and assistance of no one in or out of power. No 
intimation was ever had by me that Col. Johnson intended to 
make such inquiry; nor did I know that he had made it. The 
lofty sense of honor entertained by General Jackson would never 
permit him to compromit the honor of his friends. He has not 
compromitted mine; and yet he would have done it had he used 
his authority to extort courtesy in my behalf from Messrs. Ingham, 
Branch and Berrien. But why reason about it? If the disavowal 
of the President, established even by his accusers who so lately 
were his professing friends, if to confront Mr. Branch with Col. 
Johnson, and which alone was prevented by a declaration that he 
(Mr. Branch) was entirely satisified, if the assertion of Col. Johnson 
that he had no authority to communicate any such thing, did not 
communicate it, and so informed the parties at the time, if all 
this be not sufficient to prove the falsity of the statements which 
these gentlemen, in their malignity, have so recklessly hazarded 
before the public, then would it not be believed, ‘though one 
arose from the dead.’ 

“By their conduct at the time my colleagues manifested that 
nothing had been required of them, which, as is now asserted, 
they considered dishonorable. If they had believed so, if, after 
controversing the President, they thought he had exacted of them 
that to which, as honorable men, they could not conform, they 

39 


610 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


should ‘have immediately tendered their resignations. To sup- 
pose they could do otherwise is to presume that for the sake of 
office they were willing tamely to submit to the ‘ indignity and out- 
rage’ of which they now complain. Though the concealments by 
which they imposed themselves on the President, their conduct 
towards me, and especially Mr. Ingham’s note-book, in which, 
being a confidential adviser and in one sense a part of his family, 
he noted down, if he is to be believed, the free, the private and 
familiar conversations of the President for future use, present 
spectacles of human degradations at which honorable minds would 
revolt; yet, I cannot suppose that they would remain in the Cab- 
inet under a consciousness that hourly they might be exposed to 
the same indignity, involving their personal honor and the honor of 
their families. It is utterly impossible that gentlemen now ap- 
parently so sensitive, could have submitted themselves to such a 
state of things, without complaint for fifteen months. By their 
remaining in the Cabinet so long after the ‘ indignity and outrage ’ 
of which they now complain, I must conclude that the President 
had not insulted them by any dishonorable and improper requi- 
sition, or else that they loved their offices better than their honor, 
and that their present violence is caused only by the loss of them. 

“But in relation to Mr. Branch, I have something even better 
than Mr. Ingham’s note-book, to prove what actually were 
his feelings towards the President at and about the very time when 
this pretended indignity of Colonel Johnson was offered. It is a 
letter* addressed by Mr. Branch to the President, in his own hand 
writing, on the 29th of January, 1830, and which on the same day 
was inclosed to me, in the hope that a reconciliation might take 
place between us. Agreeably to Mr. Ingham’s note-book, it was 
“on Wednesday the 27th day of January, 1830,’ that this alleged 
‘indignity and outrage’ was offered. Of course this letter was 
written but two days after, and on the identical day when Mr. 
Branch, feeling himself deeply afflicted at the communication made 
to him by Colonel Johnson, called, as he states, to see the President; 
and when, as he says, ‘ the President’s feelings were too much en- 
listed to weigh any reasons which might be offered.’ And were 
Mr. Branch’s feelings too much enlisted ‘to weigh any reasons?’ 
Was he, as we are told was the case with all three of the gentlemen, 
indignant at the outrage? Let the letter speak for itself and show 
how deeply and how like an insulted and wounded man he could 
write at this instant of excitement, when honor and feeling, through 
the instrumentality of Colonel Johnson, had been rudely trodden 
under foot. 


* T accidently found this letter, a few days since, amongst some 
old papers, not intentionally preserved, for until now I never con- 
ceived it to be of any consequence. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarRLy TENNESSEE History 611 


“Navy Department, January 29, 1830. 
“Dear Sir: 

I have received your note of Yesterday’s date, and do most 
cheerfully accept your friendly mediation; more, however, from a 
desire to give you an additional evidence of the friendly feelings 
which have actuated my bosom towards yourself, than from a con- 
sciousness of having given to Major Eaton just cause for the with- 
drawal of his friendship. Asa further manisfestation of the frank- 
ness which I trust will ever characterize my conduct, I agree to 
meet him this day at two o’clock, in the presence of Major Barry, 
at Mr. Van Buren’s, and in his presence also. 

“Yours truly, 


“John Branch.” 
**To the President of the United States.”’ 


“This letter, written directly after the indignity complained of 
was offered, bears no impress of insulted feeling; on the contrary 
breathes a spirit of kindness and friendship towards the President, 
whom he recognizes as a ‘ mediator,’ seeking with almost parental 
solicitude, to heal the division amongst the members of the Cab- 
inet, and anxious for the restoration of harmony. Surely in writ- 
ing that letter, which he concludes by signing himself, ‘ Yours 
truly,’ he could not have supposed, that the President had just 
offered him an indignity; or if so, it only proves how great a 
hypocrite he is. At that time, we did not speak. As much parade 
as he makes of his friendly feelings entertained towards me, he 
was the very reverse of all that the name of friend conveys; and 
knowing it as I did, I would not permit him to seem to be what he 
was not. I had refused to return his salutations, and declined all 
intercourse, except when we met at the President’s. I never com- 
plained of Mr. Branch, as he asserts in his letter to the public. It 
was he who complained, if at all complaint were made. His letter 
to the President, thanks him for his offer to act as a mediator in 
our difference, speaks of his good feelings towards me, an1 willing- 
ness to meet me at two o’clock that day. I have no doubt it was 
his professions of friendship and kindness towards me, made to 
the President, which induced him to become Mr. Branch’s mediator 
in this business. On receiving the letter, he enclosed it to me, and 
expressed a wish that good feelings could be restored between us. 
An interview took place, at the room of the Attorney General, at 
which Major Barry and Mr. Berrien were present. 


“It was here that Mr. Branch, in the presence of these gentle- 
men, expressed friendship for me and in the strongest terms de- 
clared that he did not entertain any unkind feelings towards me, 
and wished he had a glass in his bosom through which his every 
thought could be read. He spoke of the non-intercourse between 
our families, and said he had not the slightest objection to a free 
association; but that he could not controlhis. I promptly answer- 
ed, that I did not desire his or any other family to visit mine, 


612 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


except with their own free consent; and that it was my desire our 
family should, in that respect, pursue such course as they thought 
fit and proper. We shook hands and parted as friends. Mr. 
Berrien affected much satisfaction at this reconciliation, and pre- 
tended to hail it as the harbinger of future harmony and good will. 
I say pretended, because, under all the circumstances of recent 
disclosure, he felt not what he said he did. It was only adding 
another and another fold to that cloak of hypocracy in which he 
had wrapped himself from the first formation of the Cabinet. 

“Such were the incidents of Friday the 29th of January, 1830, 
the moment when, as their communications to the public disclosed, 
they were writhing under a sense of deep and lasting ‘ indignity 
and outrage,’ at the threats of Col. Johnson, borne to them from 
the President. Where then was the lofty dignity of Mr. Berrien 
and Mr. Branch that the one could declare how pleased he was at 
the reconciliation made, and the other protest the good feelings 
which he entertained for me? 

“Let us see how the facts stand, if these men speak truth. 

On Wednesday, the 27th of January, 1830, the President, through 
Col. Johnson threatened to dismiss them, if they did not compel 
their families to associate with mine, which they considered such an 
‘indignity and outrage,’ that they seriously thought of resigning. 
On Thursday, the 28th, the ‘indignity and outrage’ being un- 
atoned and even unexplained, the President wrote a note to Mr. 
Branch, offering his ‘ friendly mediation,’ to bring about, what? 
Not social intercourse between our families, but a restoration of 
friendly intercourse between ourselves. In the morning of Friday, 
the 29th (for he says he will meet me at two o’clock) he accepted 
the friendly offer, thus acknowledging that he considered the Presi- 
dent an impartial umpire, and unprejudiced, unexcited and just 
man, in whose hands he could ‘trust his character and his honor; 
and yet strange to tell, on the same day, having called on the Presi- 
dent for some explanation about Col. Johnson’s insulting message, 
he found ‘ The President’s feelings were too much enlisted to weigh 
any reasons which might be offered! !’ 
Who can believe all this? ‘ Most cheerfully, says he, I ‘ accept 
your friendly mediation.’ What! Accept the mediation of a man 
who two days before, had required him to humble himself to me 
like the meanest slave and had not atoned for it? Accept the 
mediation of a man whose feelings were so much enlisted in my 
favor that he would not listen to reason? Impossible! Had Mr. 
Branch felt that an indignity had been offered him, he would have 
replied to the President: ‘Sir, your insulting message through 
Col. Johnson, must be first explained, before I can avail myself of 
‘ your friendly mediation.’ By his whole conduct, he showed that 
he entertained no such feelings, and that the whole story about 
‘indignity and outrage,’ is a sheer invention, got up now to injure 
the President. 

“This letter of Mr. Branch shows that in addition to Col. 


i 


1 a ee eee 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 613 


Johnson’s friendly mediation, the President was willing to exert 
his own as a friend to heal the breach, in anticipation of the meeting 
to which he invited the Secretaries, on Friday the 29th, to declare 
the basis on which he had resolved to fix the harmony of his Cab- 
inet. Mr. Branch and myself, the principal difficulty having arisen 
between us, met, as has been stated, at Mr. Berrien’s, and adjusted 
our relations amicably; and yet it is pretended that this reconcil- 
iation produced as is seen from Mr. Branch’s note, by the kind and 
friendly interposition of the President, is represented to have been 
immediately preceded by ‘ indignity and outrage,’ and to have been 
succeeded by a state of feeling too much excited ‘to weigh any reasons 


' which might be offered. Wow thoroughly is all this contradicted 


by Mr. Branch’s contemporaneous note. 
“Private difficulties were now at an end, and, as was well under- 


" stood, families were to visit or not, according to their inclinations. 


In two days the ‘ indignity and outrage ’ which had been offered to 
these gentlemen was forgotten, so much so that for fifteen months 
matters glided on in tolerable harmony. Nothing more was said 
or heard of this subject until the President as he had an unquestion- 
ed right to do, thought proper to request their resignations. Then 
were old notes and memoranda burnished up, and that over which 
they had slept so long, immediately became a subject of deep and 
‘awakening interest to the American people.” The truth is, this 
farce which is now brought out on the public stage, was designed for 
a different occasion. It was in January or February, 1830, that 
they expected to exhibit before the public, and to unfold the tale 
of threats from the President, dismissal, and family association 
and all that. Not being dismissed, then, as they expected, they 
laid aside their prepared tale; but having at length lost their offices, 
they bring it forth upon an occasion which it does not fit, and 
vainly attempt to attribute the dissolution of the Cabinet to a false 
ground. That event they knew sprung from an entirely different 
cause, a cause which will satisfy every impartial man when he comes 
to understand it. To account for this removal, they offer any but 
the true reason, and hence run into all sorts of absurdity. 

“Shortly after this, about the 20th of March, a preparatory 
meeting of a few members of Congress was held, with a view to 
request the President to remove me from the Cabinet. Being ap- 
prised of their design, he made a remark which satisfied the leaders 
in this movement that to persist in their course would serve to ex- 
pose them to public reprobation and result in fruitless endeavor. 
Accordingly, the project was abandoned or at least suspended. 

“I do not impute to all who participated in this preliminary 
step, a design to unite ultimately in a measure of such high dic- 
tation to the Present. Some were at first misled by false represent- 
ations, and induced to believe that his peace and comfort, as well 
as the success of his administration, depended upon it; others 
attended the meeting to point out the impropriety of the course, 
and to dissuade their friends from persisting in their design. © 


614 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“‘Now, what was the motive for all this relentless persecution ? 
Could it be that my wife was indeed the cause? Was it merely to 
exclude a female from their ‘ good society?’ Was one woman so 
dangerous to public morals and so formidable in influence and 
power, as to require all this strong array of Cabinct counsellers, 
combination of members of Congress, confederacy of fashionable 
ladies? Was it for that, attacks were made upon the integrity of 
her husband, and honor, truth and candor sacrificed? The idea is 
truly ridiculous! She was lone and powerless. Those who liked 
her society, sought it; and those who did not, kept away. Neither 
she nor her husband entered into cabals and intrigues to the preju- 
dice and injury of others. Their own multiplied wrongs they bore 
with as much patience as could be expected from mortals endowed 
with human passions and sensibilities. A common understanding . 
prevailed, expressed in relation to one family, and which was also 
understood in relation to others, that each should seek their own 
associates, according to their own will, uninfluenced and unrestrain- 
ed. The motive, therefore, was not to exclude us from society. 
It is a matter altogether too small to account for the acts and the 
untiring zeal of so many great men. 

“Was the motive merely to exclude me from the Cabinet? Was 
my presence there dangerous to the interest of the country or to 
its institutions? Had | the power to or the disposition to 
injure the one or overthrow the other? Was it pretended that I 
wanted the ability, intelligence or integrity necessary to the man- 
agement of the Department of War? Of its management, there 
has been no complaint, while it was in my hands! [I left it at least 
as prosperous as I found it! Was it suspected that I was not true 
to the President and would prove false and faithless to his admin- 
istration? A confidential intercourse of more than fifteen years, 
the highest admiration of his character, and the deep personal 
interest felt in the success of his administration, were surely suf- 
ficient to guard me against that. Nothing of this sort entered into 
the minds of my traducers. They had no desire for my exclusion 
on account of any suspicions entertained that I would willingly do 
injury to the interests of the country, its institutions, or to the 
President! To what then shall we look for this motive? An ardent 
friend of the Vice-President, in 1829, in one short sentence dis- 
closed it: 

‘ “Major Eaton is not the friend of Mr. Calhoun.’ 

“Tt was this which rendered me unfit for the Cabinet, and for 
the respectable society of Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien. 
I could not, perhaps, be used to promote the views of Mr. Calhoun, 
and might exert an influence to induce General Jackson to stand a 
second election. It was not thought that in my hands the in- 
fluence and patronage of the War Department, could be used in 
favor of a successor. In that they did me justice. It was not so 
used nor ever would have been. It was a subject about which I 
spoke not and felt not. Not even was I solicitous for General Jack- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 615 


son again to be selected, except on the ground that his principles 
and the course of his administration, when fairly tested, shoud be 

‘found in accord with the general sense of the people and the country. 
At a proper time they would determine this matter, and there I was 
willing to rest it, undisturbed by any private or official interference 
of mine. 

“But ‘ Major Eaton was not the friend of Mr. Calhoun,’ and 
this was a sufficient reason, why he should not be permitted to en- 
ter the Cabinet, if to be prevented; or for forcing him out when 
there. The ineffectual attempts to exclude me have already been 
alluded to. It has been shown that Berrien and Ingham, conceal- 
ing deep in their own bosoms their feelings, entered the Cabinet 
under a full conviction that I presently would be excluded, that 
Mr. Calhoun’s family and mine, before my appointment, inter- 
changed civilities, and that he sought of me the appointment of a 
friend as Chief clerk, and that thereafter all private and official 
intercourse between us, cease. Let it be borne in mind, that the 
principals, those who have been actively employed against me, are 
the friends of Mr. Calhoun, his devoted, active partizans. It is 
readily to be inferred then that this * high wrought tempest,’ has 
proceeded from political designs, connected with the future hopes 
and expectations of Mr. Calhoun; and this inference I have it in 
my power to confirm, by the most unquestionable facts. 

“Duff Green, Editor of the United States Telegraph, has been 
from the first the instrument of Mr. Calhoun, by whose move- 
ments he sought to bring his plans into operation. To him 
the feelings and plans of his party have been known. He has been 
their chief manager; first their private, and now their public 
organ. Him they chose to carry on their private correspondence, 
him they selected to make their debut against me, they standing 
behind the scene with their notes, memoranda, and concerted 
statement,, to back and sustain him. As he is their witness and 
their friend, their agent and association, they will not impeach the 
testimony borne by his acts. His word would not be introduced by 
me as evidence against any whom he was desirous to injure. Be- 
fore I knew him, I rendered substantial service to this man; but 
his ingratitude isa warning to the friends who now confide in 
him, of what they may expect if interest or policy shall hereafter 
make it necessary. Before he left Missouri, he was poor and 
penniless, too much so, as he informed me and others, to be able 
to remove his wife and children to this place, where he had then 
lately established a press. Upon his application to me, and 
stating his necessities, I borrowed for him fourteen hundred 
dollars; part of which he repaid in about fifteen months, and the 
balance only recently, when he found the sense of the community 
shocked by the baseness of employing the means furnished by my 
unreturned advances to destroy my reputation. 

“In difficulty here and pressed for money, he again in 1826 ap- 
plied to me, when, through a friend of mine in Baltimore, I ob- 


616 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 


tained $2,500.00 for the very press from which, probably he daily 
circulates his abuse of me. I have a note which was protested and 
paid by me, on which I was not an endorser, and which has been 
in my possession several years, the whole or a part of which still 
remains unpaid. To my exertions and zeal in his behalf, as most 
of the Senate of the United States can testify, is he indebted for 
his first success as public printer, the annual receipts of which 
appointment at this time are not less than from thirty to fifty 
thousand dollars. These things might have been omitted for 
charity and friendship, or secret in their operation, and should not 
be proclaimed to the world; but surely I may be permitted to men- 
tion them, not in the spirit of an ostentatious liberality, by that the 
public may be able to appreciate the characters of my persecutors. 
“In 1829-‘30, Mr. Green was frequent visitor at my house to 
“large parties,’ and to small, with his wife and daughters, and in- 
vited my wife and myself to his. He, on several occasions tendered 
his services and his paper in vindication of us against the slanders 
and abuse which at that time were whispered about; and as it 
regards one of his compurgators, on whom now he would rely as a 
good and sufficient witness, but in whom then, he had no confi- 
dence, he placed in my hand a statement of his own brother tending 
to impeach him. What now, has brought them so closely together, 
I know not. I only know that he hates me beyond even the power 
to extend common justice; and wherefore is it so? Because bad 
men are apt to dislike those from whom they have received favors. 
But that he should descend so far as to become the traducer of a 
female, because she is the wife of one to whom he is under obliga- 
tions, never to be repaid, is indeed strange! Mark his present 
course! His obligations of friendship certainly are not cancelled; 
at least to the extent that gratitude should be concerned. Without 
provocation on my part and without change in the character and 
deportment of myself and family, he is daily dragging before the 
world those into whose society he introduced his wife and daughters 
and whom voluntarily he proffered to defend! He does not pre- 
tend that now he knows more than when, with and without his 
family, he called, talked, smiled, and treated us as friends, wronged 
and persecuted. Was he sincere then or now? If then sincere, 
how unutterable must be his depravity in becoming the very leader 
of the band of traducers who at present occupy the public atten- 
tion! He then performed the duty of a friend and acted up to the 
principles of an honest man; but yielding to the political intrigue of 
his great leader, he has sacrificed justice and decency, his own rep- 
utation, and the feelings of his family, to subserve the cause of 
that friend, who never was his friend. ‘This man is a fit associate 
of Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien. He has united with 
them on a nefarious purpose, in the accomplishment of which, all 
that is ‘ wholly in charity,’ exalted in honor, and sacred in truth, 
have been rudely outraged and trodden under foot. What object 
has he to attain? What purpose to answer? Surely, he cannot 


E—————————e tc 


nl 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 617 


think that in the choice of a Chief Magistrate of this country, the 
American people are so debased that female character and feeling, 
are to be made the test of elections. 

“This man, to different persons, and in various directions early 
disclosed the designs which actuated him and others who were 
associated with him in feeling and in interest in their conduct 
towards me. I have a statement from S. P. Webster of this city, 
detailing the substance of Mr. Green’s remarks to him in the fall 
of 1829 at the very time when he was professing before me high 
consideration and great respect and regard. 

“Mr. Webster, in presenting the temarks made to him in 
November, 1829, says, repeating Mr. Green’s language: 

‘“That Major Eaton remaining in the Cabinet was of great 
injury to the party, that he was used by the Secretary of State to 
forward his interested views; and if he remained in the Cabinet, 
the Secretary of State, who held complete influence over him, 
would be able to manage the President as he pleased, and direct 
the acts of the government to promote his (Van Buren’s) future 
prospects. That Major Eaton ought to be sent Minister to Rus- 
sia, or at any rate should not remain in the Cabinet; and that if 
some decisive step were not taken soon, he did not know what 
might be the consequence. And further, that the President ought 
not to be run a second time. That Mr. Van Buren was using all 
his influence to prevail on him to run again, and in that event, 
would have obtained such an influence over him and his friends, as 
to be able to command their influence at a subsequent election; 
that General Jackson ought to go home.’ 

“T have a statement of another and similar conversation, held 
by Mr. Green, in December, 1829, with Gideon Wells, Editor of 
the Hartford Times. He says: 

“On the subject of the next Presidential election, Mr. Green 
adverted to the embarrassed situation of Mr. Calhoun at the ex- 
piration of his present term, when he would have served eight years, 
equal to that of any of his predecessors; and that Mr. Van Buren, 
taking advantage of his situation wished to ruin him by driving 
him into retirement. It was the policy of Mr. Van Buren, he said, 
to persuade General Jackson to consent to a re-election because 
that would lead to the postponement of Mr. Calhoun’s claims and 
occasion him in a great degree to be forgotten. It would put Mr. 
Van Buren in advance of him, and this was the reason he was 
desirous that General Jackson should consent to a re-election.’ 

“‘Again he remarks to Mr. Wells, on this subject, about which 
it seems he felt such deep interest and concern: 

““That Mr. Calhoun had no influence with the President, and 
could have none while Major Eaton was there; nor could any of 
his friends receive appointments so iong as he was in the Cabinet. 
He endeavored to excite my jealousy by representing that Mr. 
Van Buren, through Eaton, was endeavoring to confer all appoint- 
ments on the old Crawford party. It was indispensable, therefore, 


618 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


for the prosperity of the administration, and the harmony of its 
members that Major Eaton should leave the Cabinet and leave 
Washington. There was one way in which he could retire honor- 
ably and victorous. If he would accept the mission to Russia, he 
would be making an honorable exchange for the War Department; 
and all were willing that Mr. Branch should be dismissed, which 
would furnish Eaton a triumph.’ (For the statements at large, 
see Appendix A and B.) 


“Thus through this chosen organ of Mr. Calhoun, we are pos- 
sessed of the true motive which actuated my kind assailants. 
Their plan was that General Jackson should be President but for 
four years and Mr. Calhoun should succeed him. ‘The Telegraph 
was considered by its Editor so omnipotent that its dictation was 
not to be and could not be resisted; and that it rested exclusively 
and alone with him to declare who should and who should not 
‘rule over us.’ Effect is often mistaken for cause, and in this 
case it seemed quite to have been overlooked that the former con- 
sequence of this journal arose from the circumstance that hereto- 
fore it went with the people, not the people with it. The moment, 
however, that Mr. Van Buren was appointed Secretary of State, 
jealously and fear arose, and then the desire was to place around 
the President as many of Mr. Calhoun’s friends as possible, to 
counteract the apprehended and dreaded influence; a part of which 
I most gratuitously was supposed to be. Devoted, as I was said 
to be to General Jackson and the success of his administration, 
my appointment was calculated rather to thwart than to promote 
their ulterior designs. It was deemed necessary to prevent it; 
but if that could not be effected, then adequate means were to 
be resorted to to get me out of the way. All this Mr. Ingham and 
Mr. Berrien foresaw. Two of my colleagues, if not the third were 
in the secret, and using the influence and importance which office 
gave them and their families, to promote and ftrrther their grand 
design. 

‘Months had rolled away and as yet the President had never 
seen and corrected the evil as was expected. Mr. Van Buren, it 
was feared, had gained and was gaining so fast_.upon my esteem, 
that serious apprehensions were entertained that I would fall 
within the vortex of his influence. In addition, it was imagined, or 
rather feared, that General Jackson might consent to a re-election, 
and reasons were discerned why Van Buren would desire it as 
matter of interest to him, and how, through my influence, the 
matter might succeed, and the claims of Mr. Calhoun be deferred, 
his prospects injured, and he driven into retirement. Fear and 
apprehension and an impatience of longer delay arose. ‘Some 
decisive step,’ says Mr. Green, ‘ must be taken, or else I do not 
know what will be the consequence.’ This ‘ malign influence,’ 
which, operated upon by the crafty subtlety of Mr. Van Buren 
must be removed, or the effect will be to postpone Mr. Calhoun’s 
claims and drive him into retirement. It must be removed from 


“ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 619 


_ the President, and to accomplish it I was to retire not only from the 
Cabinet but from Washington that I might be as far distant as 
' possible from the scene of their fruitful operations. The Secre- 
¢ tary of War was not qualified for the duties of the War Depart- 
_ ment; yet he might be sent to represent his country at one of the 
_ most important courts of Europe. He and his family were not fit 
and good society for the families of such pure honorables as Ing- 
ham, Branch and Berrien, and yet they were to be considered 
quite “ good society,’ enough for one of the first and most powerful 

_ monarchs of Europe. 

e “But more! They were even willing to afford me a triumph. 
For the sake of getting me away from the President, they were 
ready and disposed that Mr. Branch, one of the friends of whom 
they had made a dupe and instrument, might be dismissed. Amidst 
all this tirade of abuse and insult, previously offered, merely to get 
rid of my supposed influence, they were yet willing to bestow on 
me office and emolument, to mount me on a triumphful car, and 
tie their friend, Mr. Branch, to its wheels. Now, can any man in 
his senses fail to wonder that I should decline all these liberal offers, 
and finally retire from the Cabinet for no better reason than is 
asserted by these gentlemen, that the families of Ingham, Branch 
and Berrien would not visit me and my family? Truly, they make 
me out a greater patriot than I am willing to be considered while 

they afford to Mr. Branch no great cause for Thanksgiving to them. 

Their proffer shows how little he knew of those persons who, for 
all his zeal and ardor and malignity to serve them and their cause, 
were yet willing to sacrifice him to their ambition and to their 
thirst for office. As a part of the consideration in getting rid of 
me, they were willing to dispose of him in any way and at any 
sacrifice. ‘Thus you perceive, my countrymen, the real objection 
to me as a member of the Cabinet, and why it was that Messrs. 

Ingham and Berrien entered it with concealed purposes and with 

hypocritical professions. You can perceive the reasons why I and 

my family have been so relentlessly pursued by the friends of Mr. 

Calhoun; and you perceive the origin of the progressive and con- 

certed attacks, first upon me, next upon Mr. Van Buren, and lastly, 

upon the President, that the one might be sent to Russia, the other 
to Albany, and the third to the solitude of the Hermitage. All 
has originated in the restless spirit of Mr. Calhoun and his par- 

tizans, and in a determination that General Jackson should be 

President but for four years and that Mr. Calhoun must and should 

be his successor. 
“Tn the winter of spring of 1829-30, Mr. Green’s paper gave 

_ confirmation of the feelings and plans developed in his conversa- 
_ tions with Messrs. Webster and Welles. In December, the New 

York Enquirer intimated that the re-election of General Jackson 
Was desirable, and ventured to suggest that Mr. Van Burren might 
be a candidate provided he declined. Mr. Green sharply rebuked 
the Editor for meddling with the subject and especially for intro- 


620 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ducing the name of the proposed successor. In March, 1830, Mr. 
Webb again introduced the subject, though in a different shape. 
He says: ‘ We repeat, that General Jackson and he only will be 
the candidate of the Republican party for the next Presidency.’ 
In reply the Telegraph again took exception; and although not so 
frank and full as in the previous conversations had with Mr. 
Webster and Mr. Welles yet the article dimly discloses the same 
designs. General Jackson must not again be a candidate, lest 
“his acts should be subjected to the imputation of selfish ends 
and electioneering purposes.’ He might not think it his duty 
‘ to sacrifice his private comforts;’ or, in the more distinct language 
held to Mr. Webster, “he ought to go home’ to the Hermitage. 
There is in this article nothing of Mr. Van Buren’s designs and in- 
trigues of Mr. Calhoun’s claims. These could be better managed 
and to happier effect through private arrangements which were 
then in progress, though not complete. It was not yet time to 
appeal to the public for the correction of ‘ evils,’ which the Presi- 
dent could not be made to see; but tat time was considered to be 
near at hand, and was evidently foreboded by the tone of the 
Telegraph. 

“Most of the President’s nominations had been before the 
Senate during the whole winter and the public were at a loss to 
know why they were not disposed of. The friends of Mr. Calhoun 
were constantly pouring into the ears of those who were depending 
on the Senate for confirmation exaggerated accounts of his strength 
in that body; and the political preferences of those in nomination 
were secretly and artfully sought after. They pretended to have 
polled both houses of Congress and to have ascertained that a 
majority in each were his friends. Mr. Hill was rejected from 
the office of Second Comptroller of the Treasury and Mr. Green 
paid him a visit of condolence, during which he sought to persuade 
him that he had been sacrificed to ‘the Eaton and Van Buren 
influence.’ Others were privately warned that they were in danger 
from the same quarter. It clearly would have been a masterly 
stroke of policy if Mr. Hill could have been sent to New Hamp- 
shire, Mr. Kendall to Kentucky, Mr. Noah to New York, and other 
former Editors back to their homes, to resume their professional 
duties, impressed with the belief that they had been made the 
victims, not of an Ingham, Berrien and Branch, but of ‘ the Eaton 
and Van Buren influence.’ It was a good idea if it could have 
succeeded; but being rather far-fetched it failed. ‘Thus is it ap- 
parent that it was not the Secretary of War alone that they desired 
to get rid of but the Secretary of State also. One of the members 
of Congress, who attended the preparatory meeting about the 
20th of March, for the purpose of regulating the President’s Cab- 
inet, being enquired of if my removal would satisfy them, answered 
emphatically: ‘ Vo; we will be satisfied with nothing short of the 
removal of Van Buren.’ 

“But the removal of these two unrepresented Secretaries at 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 621 


this meeting was not the only subject probably discussed before 
it and which failed of success. The Premier, General Jackson 
himself, a more important personage than all, he too was to be 
disposed of; and the better to effect it, conversations were to be 
held with strangers visiting the city; and private letters were to be 
written, to prepare the minds of leading politicians at a distance 
to support the decisive movement. It was not proper nor the 
proper time, openly to take ground in the newspapers; sapping 
and mining were preferable. An anti-Van Buren party was to be 
gotten up, and under that banner, without seeming to be in opposi- 
tion to the President, it was thought the discontented and dis- 
satisfied of all parties could rally, until the scheme being fully 
matured, the mine was to be exploded, when Mr. Calhoun and the 
Telegraph were ‘ to ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm.’ 
On the 19th of March, but a day before this preparatory meeting of 
members to re-organize the Cabinet, at least in part, Mr. Green 
wrote a letter to Andrew Dunlap, United States District Attorney 
at Boston. In that letter he says: 

““The political horizon is from day to day more clearly indicat- 
ing the point whence the storm cometh. The article from the 
Massachusetts Journal and the last letter to the United States 
Gazette leave no doubt that Webster has resolved to push forward 
_ boldly and on Clay alone. If Clay succeeds, Webster’s fortune is 
made. If Clay falls, the Lieutenant becomes the Commander of 
the defeated force. He comes into the market at the head of an 
organized and powerful party, and associated as he intends to be, 
with New York (Mr. Van Buren) he will have a powerful influence 
at his command. 

“Mr. who was so much with Webb, gave me, asa piece 
of advice intended for my own benefit and guidance, the informa- 
tion that Mr. Webb had, while here, been advised not to attack Mr. 
Webster. Will it not be well to keep an eye on the Courier, and 
also on ? Clay and Webster rely on the Bank of the United 
States and the federal party. is there origin in Let 
them succeed or let them make any compromise, and the democ- 
racy of New England and particularly of Massachusetts, are the 
victims which must be offered up to Webster’s vengeance. Is this 
not obvious? Unless the division and disunion of our party can 
be healed, defeat is certain. BOLD AND DECISIVE MEANS 
INSURE US TRIUMPH. There are some now in power who 
accustom themselves to think lightly of the New England democ- 
tracy. My own opinion is, that that may yet hold the fate of the 
Union in their hands.’ 

“Thus were the democracy of New England addressed. They 
Were warned against the New York Enquirer, and notified of an 
ultimate coalition, first with Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, and if 
that failed, then with Mr. Van Buren. Webster would ‘ come into 
the market’ in great force, and sell out to Mr. Clay, if he could 
purchase, or to Mr. Van Buren if he could not. The jealousy of 


622 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


the New England democracy was thus to be aroused; and they 
excited to action by being told ‘ they were to be offered up as the 
victims of vengeance;’ and that ‘ bold and decisive means would 
ensure us triumph.’ ‘Thus was it hoped for and expected, that the 
democracy of New England would be aroused and prepared to 
support ‘the bold and decisive means,’ then in contemplation, to 
expel ‘the Eaton and Van Buren influence,’ from the councils of 
the President, prevent him from consenting to a re-election; and 
have everything arranged and prepared to destroy him if he did 
consent. 

“In a few days after, a letter was sent to Mr. M. M. Noah, 
of New York. In it Mr. Green says: 

‘I have no doubt that the last in the Courier, as well as that of 
the 12th, was prepared here, and are part of the intrigue intended 
to separate the President from his earliest and best friends. 

‘““As to Mr. Calhoun, the object of the Courier is to drive me to 
the alternative of abandoning him or General Jackson. ‘The ar- 
tifice is too shallow for success. It will recoil upon its author. 
Those who desire to monopolize General Jackson’s popularity for 
the use of Mr. Van Buren, are interested in circulating such a re- 
port, which Mr. Webb took with him from here; but the intelligent 
friends of the President, who associate with the Vice-President, 
known it to be false.’ 

‘*The report here alluded to, and declared to be false, was that 
Mr. Calhoun intended to oppose the re-election of General Jackson. 
How false it was, the reader, under all the circumstances presented, 
is prepared to decide. But it was not wise policy, then, to permit 
such an impression to go abroad. At that time General Jackson 
was not a candidate for re-election nor was it known that he would 
be. The true policy of the cabal was to maintain towards him the 
appearance of friendship, at least until that point should be settled. 
It was only the ‘ malign influence’ of those who might endeavor 
to persuade the President to consent to a re-election, and who 
sought to monopolize his popularity for the benefit of Mr. Van 
Buren, whereby to thwart the plans and projects of Mr. Calhoun, 
that were to be assailed. 

‘He also wrote on the 25th of March to Mr. Ritchie, Editor 
of the Richmond Enquirer, and employs the following language: 

“If there ever was a time which demanded that the friends of 
the Constitution should be firm, wise and united, the moment 
has arrived. The payment of the national debt will present a 
new crisis in the history of nations, and create the necessity of new 
legislation, based upon the state of our Treasury thereby produced. 
This question will then be directly presented to the American 
people: Will you increase the expenditure to meet the existing 
revenue, or will you diminish the revenue to the existing expen- 
diture ?’ 

“Tf General Jackson is now declared a candidate, I foresee that 
a new race for popularity commences. He occupies the position 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 623 


of patronage, and Mr. Clay that of the American System. Do not 
both these tend to the same termination? Can the administra- 
tion contend with Mr. Clay and profess to be the friends of in- 
ternal improvement and of the tariff, without throwing its in- 
fluence in favor of the vast projects of public expenditure which 
it is the business of Mr. Clay and his friends to set on foot? Is it 
not the duty of all those who desire to bring back the constitution 
to its original purposes to postpone the Presidential election until 
the discussion upon the great questions connected with the ap- 
proaching state of our finances, shall have brought them home to 
every man’s door? Until the people shall know that Mr. Clay’s 
project is to take ten millions annually out of the pockets of one 
portion of our citizens, for the purpose of buying up another? 


“Mr. Green, well knowing Mr. Ritchie’s devotion to principle, 
did not venture to approach him on any other ground than that of 
principle. Appealing then to his principles, he endeavored to 
alarm him with apprehensions that the policy of General Jackson 
would be substantially the policy of Mr. Clay, that ‘ patronage and 
the American System tended to the same termination.’ The object 
was a little more time for private action, and hence it was Mr. 
Ritchie to be prevailed upon not to commit himself in favor of the 
re-election of the President, or at least to remain neutral in relation 
“to those bold and decisive means,’ which were then thought 
necessary to ‘insure us triumph.’ 

“These evidences of political management preparatory to some 
contemplated grand movement, all of which bear date about the 
time of the preliminary meeting of certain members of Congress, 
to compel the Cablnet to be re-organized, are from the Telegraph 
and were voluntarily disclosed by the Editor himself. I have 
another letter, which has not before appeared, written by Mr. 
Green at the same time, 25th of March. I am authorized to use 
it. ‘The body of the letter, I am informed, is not in the handwrit- 
ing of Mr. Green, although the signature is. It doubtless was a 
circular carefully prepared and arranged, and forwarded in various 
directions, and to different persons. 


“The intrigues of some individuals near the President are daily 
developing themselves, and must soon end in the disappointment 
of those concerned in them: The article in the New York Courter, 
assailing the press (The Telegraph) and the article of the 23d, as- 
sailing the Senate, have their origin in those intrigues, the object of 
which is to make the President and others believe that Mr. Calhoun 1s 
resolved to oppose them, and thus transfer the President's popularity 
to Mr. Van Buren. I SHALL, WAIT A FEW DAYS FOR FUR- 
THER DEVELOPMENTS. In the meantime I shall take the 
liberty of asking you to suspend your opinion until you shall have 
seen the whole of the matters in issue, and then act on the side of 
patriotism. I have never deceived my friends. I have never 
sounded false alarms. I now say to you that the remarks, so far 


624 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


as Mr. Calhoun is concertied, are false, and time will show the 
true object of his enemies. Mr. Calhoun is known to be the true 
friend of the President.’ , 

“At this time Mr. Calhoun was at Washington. Who can 
believe that during all this, while of ‘ measured step and slow,’ he 
was not counselled and advised with and that this circular was 
written by his advice, or passed under his revision and inspecton ? 
It can hardly be believed that without his approval, Mr. Green 
would take a course so important to his future political interests, 
It cannot doubted that these letters to Dunlap, Noah, Ritchie, 
and especially this circular, were written by and with Mr. Calhoun’s 
advice or passed his revision. The object and purpose of the last, 
was to show that Mr. Calhoun, ‘ is the true friend of the President; 
next, how management and intrigue were going on near the Presi- 
dent; and lastly, that in a FEW DAYS a full exposure would be 
made. 

“Wherefore all this secret, private, political arrangement? 
Why all these conversations, this wide-spread correspondence, 
these intrigues in Congress, these preparatory movements ‘ in open 
day and secret night?’ Why this restless jealousy and fearful 
forboding of Mr. Van Buren, this fear that he would induce the 
President to consent to a re-election, this apprehension that I had 
lent myself and my influence to bring about results which were to 
thwart Mr. Calhoun and postpone his claims? Why the attempt 
to alarm and to arouse the democracy of New England? Where- 
fore disturb Mr. Noah’s tranquility with fancied tales of plots and 
intrigues, and Mr. Ritchie with grave and oracular warning? 
Wherefore in the circular of the 25th of March, is language and fore- 
boding, and of such solemn and prophetic import, employed? 
What awful event, or dread design, was a ‘ FEW DAYS’ about to 
disclose, that friends, on the ground that they had NEVER BEEN 
DECEIVED, nor false alarms been sounded, should be implored to 
suspend their opinions? Was all this note of preparation, this 
bustle, this management, this toil by day and profound meditation 
by night, these solemn warnings and doleful cautions, to be the 
mere enunciation, that Mr. I B. B. and E. did not inter- 
change visits, or invite each other to LARGE PARTIES at Wash- 
ington, and that the President, in martial pomp and spirit, had 
sent the gallant Hero of the Thames, the harbinger of a dread 
threat,if it were not otherwise? 

“Oh, no! It was not such unimportant matter, which in a 
‘FEW DAYS’ with astounding effect, was to be brought before 
the American people. It was a general attack upon all who would 
not acknowledge Mr. Calhoun’s legitimate right of immediate 
succession; a plot was to be discovered, and then we were to have 
an expose of those intrigues near the President, which were to 
evince to the world that a transfer of his popularity to another was 
designed. Mr. Van Buren was to be stigmatized as the author; 
and I was to be marked as his humble instrument in the business, 


——— 


ANDREW JACKSON. 


From painting by Sully 1783-1872. Sully’s portrait of Lord Byron is probably his most famous work. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 625 


It was intended next to denounce all the President’s personal 
friends, who were near him, as a ‘ malign influence,’ to represent 
him as the victim of their intrigues,.that one by one, they might be 
driven from him; or if he would not part with them, and should 
prove to be refractory, to open the phials of their wrath against 
him, until sickened and disgusted with the turmoil, he might retire 
to the solitude of the Hermitage, and yield the strife of politics 
to the Vice-President and his rivals. All the visiting cards that 
were ever printed and circulated in this city, were as nothing 
compared to this grand, this important design, which was to be 
brought out subsequently as an after-piece to the new plot that 
was built upon the letter of Mr. Crawford and the published 
correspondence. 

“The question arises, why were not these plans carried out at 
the intended time? Why not executed? Why were these designs 
suspended and all the labor of preparation brought to a pause? 
Passing events furnished the answer. On the 3lst of March, the 
day after the letter to Mr. Ritchie was written, and before the 
“FEW DAYS’ of waiting had expired, a voice from Pennsylvania 
was hurrying through the land. The democratic members of the 
Legislature of that great State, which first had presented General 
Jackson, and through two contests sustained him, were now again 
the first to express their confidence in his administration and to 
nominate him for re-election. Awed by the independent and un- 
corrupted voice of this State, the managers at: Washington paused 
in their career, to listen for the distant echoes of this deafening 
sound, this unexpected enunciation. Mark how it was announced 
in the Telegraph: 

““The position of this press located at the seat of the government, 
its presumed relation to the President, the high respect and delicate 
regard which it has at all times maintained for public opinion, 
impose restraints upon it in relation to the discussion at this tume, 
of the propriety of his continuance in office for another term.’ 

“Again, a voice from New York, responding to the recommen- 
dation from Pennsylvania in terms of approbation, equally strong, 
was also heard, and these two large States, thus moving and acting 


‘together, gave answers that whoever chose to go into retirement 


could do so, but that the claims of Mr. Calhoun to the Presidency 
would, certainly for the present, have to be postponed. Before 
a recovery could be effected from these decisive movements, the 
veto of the President upon the Maysville Road Bill was announced 
and filled the South with joy and hope. It falsified the pre- 
dictions which had been made to Mr. Ritchie, and swept away 
that whence a successful opposition was expected to arise. It 
was perceived that the President’s moral, was no less than his 
physical courage, and the people of the South already exhibited 
a general feeling in his favor. All hope of arraying the South 
against the North, was seemingly impracticable and for a time 
abandoned. Evidences of better feeling began to appear, and in 


40 


626 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


June, The Telegraph undertook to show that it had always been 
in favor of the re-election of General Jackson. In the mean time, 
the President and the Vice President had differed in relation to 
some incident connected with the Seminole (Indian) war, which 
had occasioned a coolness and separation. 

“Congress again assembled, and it was rumored that Mr. Cal- 
houn intended to write a book, and give to the public his correspon- 
dence with the President. The papers were shown privately to 
his friends who busied themselves in representing the affair in 
conversation and in their letters as an intrigue which had been 
gotten up on the part of Van Buren to destroy Mr. Calhoun. In 
preparing and bringing forward this address, much policy was 
necessary and it was employed. I was requested to examine the 
manuscript, that if there was any thing in it that could have a 
tendency to induce the President to reply to it a modification might 
take place. The request I obeyed; but afterwards, that incident 
was used to prove that the friends of the President had read and 
sanctioned the address, before it obtained publication. The state- 
ment, as it related to me, was illiberal and untrue. 

“The publication of this work again aroused party animosity, 
and partizans were perceived to take sides according to their per- 
sonal predilections, and to bring up the question of the succession, 
prematurely, as the means of creating division among the original 
supporters of the administration. “The discussions in Congress 
were evidently marked by such lines of separation; and while 
Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien, could there find apologists 
and advocates, the other three members of the Cabinet, were struck 
at as the points of attack by the new opposition. The one was a 
‘malign influence,’ which was bending everything to selfish purpose, 
while our colleagues were receiving honor and commendation. 
Abuse from the papers on one side and a disposition to retaliate 
from the other, was now clearly manifest. We thus had a prospect 
of open war between partizans of different portions of the Cabinet, 
the evils of which as was plainly to be perceived could not but 
penetrate into our deliberations, interrupt business, affect the 
progress of public affairs, and disturb the quiet and repose of the 
country. While a party to contest the succession was thus or- 
ganized in Congress and in the Cabinet, one of the prominent 
friends of Mr. Calhoun introduced a resolution which contem- 
plated, by a restrospective provision, to amend the Constitution so 
as to exclude General Jackson from being eligible to a re-election. 
If those who urged this measure in the House of Representatives 
did not hope absolutely to disfranchise the President by obtaining 
such an amendment, they moved it as a means of bringing a general 
principle to operate on him alone, and by obtaining a vote on the 
abstract proposition, to urge it as the sense of the representatives 
of the people against his re-election. In this mode was the war 
waged against the fame and influence of the man who was elevated 
by the voice of the people, and who was again summoned by them 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLY TENNESSEE History 627 


to become a candidate because he had realized all their hopes as 
the reformer of abuses in the government, and was securing the 
rights of our citizens and adjusting the difficulties of the country. 

“The situation of the President was now easily to be perceived. 
With a Cabinet politically divided, and personally, as may be pre- 
sumed, not very friendly, it was impossible for him to move along 
the arduous duties of his station with satisfaction to himself or 
advantage to the country. It was apparent that in justice to 
himself, he must soon be under the necessity of re-organizing his 
Cabinet, and if it could not otherwise be accomplished to dismiss 
the disaffected portion of it. Having accepted reluctantly a place 
in the Cabinet, I concluded no longer to sacrifice my private com- 
fort or be the occasion of embarrassment to the President. Early 
in April, I communicated to him (what in the previous month I 
had written to a friend in Philadelphia), my wish and intention 
to resign, which I shortly after executed. In my letter of resig- 
nation, it was not necessary or proper that I should go into a his- 
tory of events such as are now presented. I confined my remarks 
solely to that which concerned myself, without adverting to or 
touching on the conduct of others. I felt not that any defense 
or vindication for voluntarily yielding my office was necessary; and 
feeling no disposition to injure or assail others, I forebore to enter 
into details. The same determination would have been persevered 
in, had not the illiberal conduct of my colleagues made a different 
course necessary. 

“Mr. Van Buren taking a similar view of the condition of the 
Cabinet, and the situation of the President, connected with the 
peculiar circumstances in which he had been placed by his op- 
ponents, thought proper also to resign. Without going into a full 
explanation in his letter of resignation, or naming any of his col- 
leagues, he presented briefly the result of the political intrigues 
which were dividing the Cabinet, distracting the party, and which 
pointed to a change in the councils of the President as necessary 
and indispensable. 

“The secret feelings and designs with which my colleagues en- 
tered the Cabinet, and which while there they continued to cherish, 
their ‘ notes’ of private conversations, treasured up for future and 
concerted use, the advice of a certain cabal and an acquiescence in 
the counsel given to enter the Cabinet and countinue there for 
special purposes, notwithstanding ‘the insuperable bar’ which 
conscience suggested and the ‘ indignity and outrage’ which had 
been offered and borne for fifteen months, were all unknown to 
me. These were secrets worth preserving and they were kept 
closely. Yet, entire confidence was reposed that on being in- 
formed that Mr. Van Buren and myself had retired, the others 
would appreciate the motives which had occasioned it, and place 
their offices again at the disposition of the President that he might 
organize a new Cabinet of homogeneous materials which would 
not be obnoxious to the attacks of any of his professing friends, and 


628 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


. would suffer the affairs of the country quietly to be transacted. 
But these gentlemen, although now they pretend that they had 
been grievously ‘insulted’ and were constantly liable to a repeti- 
tion of the ‘ outrage’ could see no cause why they should resign, 
either as it regarded their own honor, the quiet of the President, 
or the harmony of his administration. Having gone into the Cab- 
inet to produce discord, they could perceive no reason why they 
should retire from it to restore harmony. What they had so long 
and so ardently desired being attained (the exclusion of Mr. Van 
Buren and myself), they were more than disposed to continue. 
Besides, they could not see how the Government could well move 
on without them, and they were solicitous to procure some justi- 
fication which they could plead to the people, for the injury which 
was about to result to the country at being deprived of their impor- 
tant services! Their honor, and the harmony of the administra- 
tion was quite insufficient! They must need place their resigna- 
tions solely on the will and the request of the President that on 
his shoulders might rest the undivided responsibility of the awful 
deprivation which the Government and the country were to suffer 
from their retirement. Their wishes were gratified and a desire 
communicated that they should resign. Thus was the Cabinet 
dissolved; and thus far the country, evidently, has sustained no 
injury, save in the disturbances and interruptions to the public 
which the complaints and murmurs of this dismissed and disbanded 
corps have occasioned. If, as has been stated, the President 
offered to two of them, Mr. Ingham and Mr. Branch, after their 
removal, places of trust and honor, let it be set down to his kind- 
ness, not to their merits. He did not then know these men. He 
did not know how incapable they were of properly appreciating 
acts of kindness. He was ignorant that they had entered his Cab- 
inet, all smiles and fair professions, with daggers concealed in 
their bosoms. He little knew that these persons who were ad- 
mitted to his familiar intercourse, had been taking notes of his 
private conversations and free expressions, which had been conned 
over between them, and prepared and carefully laid away for future 
use. He did not in fact know, they had been spies upon him from 
the beginning of his administration; and that, finding themselves 
deprived of the means of longer stealing into his bosom, to hunt out, 
and note down his thoughts, they were now ready for open, im- 
placable and exterminating war. These things he did not then 
know. Recent events have disclosed them. 

‘“‘Nor did I comprehend the depth of the designs of these three 
gentlemen. Having resigned my seat in the Cabinet, and being 
about to retire to my residence in Tennessee, I did not calculate that 
I should be detained here from my home and business, to defend 
myself against their unprovoked attacks. In this I was mistaken. 
My pursuers were resolved that I should not escape the sweet re- 
venge, which their deep mortification at the loss of office had 
aroused. I could not bear it longer. Messrs. Ingham and Ber- 


— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 629 


rien, who were here, were in habits of daily intercourse with the 


editor of the Telegraph, and their names being used in connection 


with the abuse which was propagated through that print against 
me, I conceived I had a right to enquire, whether their names had 
been used, and references to them made, with their sanction. 

“I readily admit that no imperative obligation rests upon a 
man to engage in private combat merely because he is invited to 
do so. Public opinion sanctions such appeals only when the in- 
jured party has right and justice on his side, without other remedy. 
But a man who asserts a claim to the character of a gentleman is 
bound to act like one. Mr. Ingham did not thus act when to a 
plain and proper question he retured an insulting reply, and sought 
‘to strut the hero and to ape the warrior,’ without the capacity to 
go through with that which so improvidentlyand rashly he had be- 
gun. I never asked him to admit or deny that my family and his 
did or did not associate. He never so understood me. It was 
for the publication only and his supposed participation in it that 
I held him responsible. My correspondence with Mr. Ingham, his 
degrading apprehensions, false charges and ignoble retreat, have 
already, through himself, been made known to the public. He is 
suffering merited punishment in the contempt of the brave, the ab- 
horence of the honorable and the detestation of the community. 

I addressed Mr. Berrien on the same subject. The correspond- 
ence which took place he has laid before the public in his recent 
address. When it terminated, I had hoped our difference was 
ended. His late address, however, was of a character to induce 
with me a belief that my forbearance on the former occasion had 
a tendency to embolden him to further malignant assaults; and 
accordingly, without seeking explanation, I made a direct call 
upon him for personal redress. : 

“His answer was never communicated to me. The friend who 
acted in my behalf, finding it an argumentative, labored reply, 


‘to a plain and simple demand, returned it as a paper not of a 


character to be presented or received (See Appendix C.). A 
second call was made which resulted in a refusal on the part of 
Mr. Berrien to grant the satisfaction which had been asked. He 
has proved that, with malice and hatred in his heart, he could 
wear the garb of a friend. Pretending to have claims to honor and 
character, he could become the traducer of a woman, seek the ruin 
of a family which had never harmed him and shrink from respon- 
sibility. It must be ever so! Base men are not brave. A guilty 
conscience is a bad panoply on the field of honorable combat. 
The conscious wrong-doer anticipates the worst and calculates to 
suffer from a knowledge that he deserves it. It is not surprising 
therefore, that Mr. Berrien’s conscience did not permit him to trust 
himself with one whom so wantonly and so pertinaciously, he had 
wronged and sought toinjure. These two men, Ingham and Ber- 
rien, will stand together in after time, and with honorable men 
monuments of duplicity, ingratitude and baseness, traitors to 


306 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


their friend, and destroyers of themselves, a memorable illustration 
of the melancholy truth, that ‘a man may smile, and smile, and 
be a villain.’ 

“For Mr. Branch, I feel but pity and contempt. He has been 
the dupe of his own littleness of mind, and the victim of his more 
wily associates. Though he has entered into their feelings, and 
aided them in their designs, has asserted untruths, and offered in- 
jurious imputations, I cannot find in my heart to entertain a feeling 
of revenge towards so humble an accomplice. 

‘The restless, troubled spirit that through such secret agencies 
moved and contolled all this intrigue and management, became 
visible last winter in his proper person. His influence and address 
have associated in his schemes many partizans, besides those who 
embarrassed the late Cabinet with difficulties. They have made 
themselves victims to his ambition. If he can now find pleasure in- 
the course he has adopted for the promotion of his views, in the 
afflictions with which he has visited my dwelling, or in the sacrifice 
of the willing instruments who, as friends, were employed to do 
this service, he must owe his satisfaction to the delusions of ambi- 
tion. ‘The time will come when the victims of his policy shall rise 
before him, like the shades which appalled the insidious and heart- 
less usurper, Richard, to disturb his slumbers and to drive peace 
from him. 

“Detraction has struck at everything around me. And, al- 
though it has been uniformly pretended that the persecution a- 
gainst me originated in great regard and delicacy for public feeling 
and morals, yet what are the proofs to authorize the rumors, about 
which Mr. Ingham and Mr. Berrien would not trouble themselves to 
enquire, but which, notwithstanding, they could slyly and secretly 
whisper into circulation? ‘They have produced none! If t hisbe 
legitimate warfare, there are few who may not be subjected to the 
ordeal from which the most innocent cannot always escape with a 
name unblighted. It is a well known fact that in this city there 
are hired writers for papers at a distance; and if some incident 
does: not, from week to week, occur to fill their page, fancy must 
suggest some gossip tale to be told and printed and circulated. 
The motive with the writer is his pay; with the publisher, the grat- 
ification of the appetite for slander, reckless of the wound it may 
inflict. Under such a state of things, which party excitement now 
tolerates, of what concern is probity of character, or what the 
value of a good name? It is upon this sort of anonymous rumor, 
propagated by the vicious and malicious, that political contrivers 
seized to accomplish their purposes. Malignant as these gentle- 
men have shewn themselves, all I ask of them is to waive all con- 
cealments, allege specific charges, and adduce their proof. A 
conscience, ‘ void of offense,’ can meet them and defy their malice; 
let them but strike their blows openly and in the face of day. 

‘But it is time to close this narrative. I am admonished that 
already I have trespassed too long and laid claims to an indulgence 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 631 


beyond any that I had a right to ask. I could not confine myself 
within narrower limits; and if I have said too much, be my apology 
found in this, that it is through no culpability of mine that the 
public have been disturbed with private matters and with private 
griefs. Patient and forbearing, I was disposed to keep to myself 
the adjustment of my own wrongs, nor solicit the public to become 
am unpire in matters which, being private, could in nothing con- 
cern and interest them. But I am not permitted to enjoy even 
this humble privilege. I have been arraigned before them by 
men, writhing under malice, mortification and disappointment. 
Idly surmising me to be the moving cause why the sun of their 
political glory was so suddenly shorn of its beams, they are restless, 
persecuting and unforgiving, and appeal to the country to redress 
those private griefs to which they have subjected themselves, by 
seeking to accomplish selfish aims at the expense of truth, honor 
and humanity. I have thrown myself upon the pardon and for- 
giveness of a liberal and just community for all I have said and 
for any thing that may appear to be improperly said. 
“Vour fellow-citizen, 


“John H. Eaton. 

“P. S. General Robert Desha, in a letter published in the 
Telegraph, of the 9th of August, volunteers a statement to vin- 
dicate the course of Mr. Calhoun, towards me. He says: ‘ Maj. 
Eaton informed me in Tennessee, that as soon as he heard of the 
death of Timberlake, he determined to go on to Washington and 
marry his widow, and communicated his intention to General 
Jackson, who advised him to do so.’ In the same letter, he says: 
*‘ This is the time for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth; for it is what the people are in search of.’ 

“More than a month after this letter was written, General 
Desha again writes a corrective letter, contradictory of the mate- 
rial statements of the original; and for the mistake of the first, 
excuses himself by saying, that he ‘ did not READ SAID LETTER 
after writing wt.’ Strange indeed, that a man should prepare a 
letter, intended for the press, and to affect other persons, and, 
afterwards admit it to be incorrect, and offer as matter of excuse, 
that he did not read it after writing it. In this corrective letter 
which was written after his friends at Washington had informed 
him, that I had it in my power to correct it, by most indisputable 
testimony, he says: ‘I never held a conversation with Major 
Eaton, in Tennessee, upon that subject; but it was in the conver- 
sation had in Washington, the Major informed me that when he 
was in Tennessee and heard of the death of Mr. Timberlake, he 
had communicated his intentions of marrying the widow to General 
Jackson, who was also in Tennessee, who approved of it and ad- 
vised him to do so.’ The General has not gotten his story right 
yet. He still adheres to the point, that I was in Tennessee when 
I heard of the death of Mr. T. and that General Jackson advised 
me to marry, &c. 


632 ANDREW JACKSON AND Harty TENNESSEE HISTORY 


‘The purpose of this statement is evident. It is that the public 
should infer that I could in Tennessee, immediately on hearing of 
the death of Mr. T., determine ‘ to come on to Washington,’ not 
to ADDRESS but of my own will to MARRY his widow; leaving 
it to be inferred that I was not only conscious of a state of circum- 
stances which made it unnecessary to consult her upon the subject 
but that General Jackson was also aware that such was the case. 

“In the Spring of 1828 while in the City of Washington, in- 
formation was received at the Navy Department of the death of 
Mr. Timberlake. I heard of it here, not in Tennessee; and when 
General Desha’s letter appeared, there were persons in this city 


who knew and said that his statement was incorrect. Doubtless . 


some friend here afforded him the information which imposed the 
necessity of writing his second note, which, like the first, requires 
to be corrected. I went home to Tennessee in 1828, remained there 
’ during the summer, and in November returned to Washington. 
From this place I wrote a letter to General Jackson upon the sub- 
ject and in that letter stated to him my views, intentions, wishes 
and expectations, and from him received an answer approving of 
the course I had pursued, the determination I had taken. Being 
possessed of this letter, I can be under no mistake as to dates or 
facts. 


“In conclusion, permit me to remark that General Desha has 
thrust himself into this controversy quite unnecessarily. His ap- 
pearance as one of my assailants was not called for or required. 
He has appeared a mere volunteer to sustain Mr. Calhoun. I 
know not what other object he had to answer, what other purpose 
to serve. 


“In support of what I have said, I place here a statement of Mr. 
Mechlin of the Navy Department. Were it necessary others could 
be obtained to show that General Desha is under a mistake in what 
he has said to affect me and to affect General Jackson. The 
character and standing of Mr. M. renders anything further un- 
necessary. Mr. Mechlin says: 


“Tn the spring of 1828 news was received at the Navy Depart- 
ment of the death of J. B. Timberlake, Purser on board the United 
States frigate Constitution. I set out to inform Mr. O’Neale and 
the family; but meeting with Major Eaton on the Avenue, who 
then boarded there, I requested him to communicate the informa- 
tion. 

J. Mechlin.’ 


“General Desha also says there was no meeting at the Jast 
session of Congress with a view to obtain my removal from the 
Cabinet. It has not been so averred. He will not say though 
that this was not the case at the session of 1829-30. 

‘With these explanations which must satisfy General Desha of 
the mistake he has made, I take leave of the subject. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 633 


“APPENDIX. 
Foes 
“Statement of Mr. S. P. Webster. 

“Previous to the Presidential election, I was in the habit of 
frequent intercourse with Duff Green, at his house, and more com- 
monly at his office. In the fall of 1829, October or November, I 
met with General Green, and he commenced talking about Col.—, 
who was then in the War Department, and whom he wished turned 
out. I thought he seemed rather in an angry humor and extended 
his conversation to Major Eaton generally. He remarked, that his 
remaining in the Cabinet was of great injury to the party generally, 
that his situation made him the support of the weak persons of 
both parties; and that such persons leaned upon him for support, 
that he was used by the Secretary of State to forward his interested 
and selfish views, and that Mr. Van Buren, through him, was seek- 
ing to secure the confidence and personal friendship of General 
Jackson, that if Eaton continued in the Cabinet, the Secretary 
of State, who had influence over him, would be able to manage the 
President as he pleased, and direct the acts of the goverment to 
his (Mr. Van Buren’s) future prospects. That General Jackson 
ought to send Major Eaton to Russia, or at any rate it was meces- 
sary that he should not longer remain in the Cabinet, that some 
of General Jackson’s best friends had spoken to him freely on 
this subject, and if some decisive step was not taken soon, he did 
not know what might be the consequences. 

“In the course of the conversation he observed that the Presi- 
dent ought not to be run a second time; that he was sure he did 
not wish it and would prefer retiring to the Hermitage at the end 
of the Year; and that in effect he had promised to do so, and the 
people would be dissatisfied if he did not; that Mr. Van Buren was 
using all his art and intrigue to induce him to suffer himself to be 
run again; but that if he was again elected, Mr. Van Buren would 
have obtained such an influence over him and his friends as to be 
able to command their interest at a subsequent election; that we 
(the Jackson party) had been fighting for the last five years against 
Cabinet succession, and were now quietly sitting down and per- 
mitting the Secretary of State to use General Jackson and the 
whole interest of the Government, to ensure his future success; 
that if this was permitted we had gained nothing by the change; 
that the great republican party would fix upon a candidate who 
would get the votes of the party in 1832; and that General Jackson 
ought to go home. This was the last conversation or intercourse 
I ever had with Green beyond a mere salutation. I plainly per- 
ceived he was no friend to General Jackson, and I determined to 
have no further political intercourse with him. 

“B: 
“Statement of Gideon Welles, Editor of the Hartford Times. 

“Whilst in Hartford, Connecticut, General Green several times 
spoke of Major Eaton as wanting energy and independence, said 


634. ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


that the contest which brought General Jackson into power had 


been with him merely personal, not one of principle, that he ex- 
ercised his influence in behalf of opposition office holders, and was 
opposed to removals. In conversation with him at Washington 
the latter part of December, 1829, he said it was necessary for him 
to leave Washington if the administration would prosper. Al- 
though they were personal friends and he wished him well, truth 
required him to state that his remaining at Washington was in- 
jurious to the administration: that, through him Mr. Van Buren 
had already attained great influence over General Jackson, and 
wished him to consent to a re-election, in order to postpone Mr. 
Calhoun’s claims, and drive him, if possible, into retirement. It 
is unnecessary to repeat the political views of General Green and 
his associates, his eulogies on Mr. Calhoun, his talents, his services, 
his political strength, the devotedness of his friends, particularly 
of Judge , who, though a Mason, could bring in anti-Masonic, 
federal and religious parties. Nor need I state how willing the 
faction was to sacrifice their friend, the Judge, with all his popular- 
ity, if Mr. Van Buren would cease pressing a re-election on the 
President, and consent to be placed on a ticket as Vice President. 
Had that arrangement been made or any other that would have 
secured Mr. Calhoun the Presidency, nothing probably would have 
been heard of Cabinet and family difficulties at Washington, nor 
Mr. Ingham have assailed me. As I learned by that conversation, 
General Green’s object was to bring forward Mr. Calhoun for 
President; and he and his advisers considered Major Eaton and 
Mr. Van Buren as obstacles. He seemed to suppose, however, 
that if Eaton was removed all would be peace and harmony, and 
removed he must be. 

“Mr. Calhoun, he said, had no influence with the President, 
and could have none while Major Eaton remained there, nor could 
any of his friends receive appointments so long as he remained 
in the Cabinet. Knowing that I had been an advocate for General 
Jackson since 1824, he endeavored to enlist jealosy by representing 
that Mr. Van Buren, through Major Eaton, was endeavoring to 
confer all appointments on the old Crawford party. It was in- 
dispensable to the prosperity of the administration, therefore, and 
the harmony of the members, that he should leave Washington. 

“He admitted that Branch and Berrien had treated Major 
Eaton unkindly. That they had courted his society the previous 
winter; were frequently riding with him and Mrs. Eaton, and that 
each were under greater personal obligations to him than any 
other individual except the President. Mr. Branch, he seemed to 
think most culpable as through Major Eaton, principally, he said, 
he had intruded himself into an office to the surprise of all; and 
when the whole country had their eyes on another. It was that, 
he said, which had defeated is and my wishes, and of most of our 
friends. But that between these gentlemen, there was now par- 
ticular animosity. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 635 


“There was one way in which Major Eaton could retire honor- 
ably and victorious. By accepting the mission to Russia, it would 
be making an honorable exchange for the War Department, and 
all were willing Mr. Branch should be dismissed, which would 
furnish a triumph to Eaton. This arrangement of having both 
leave the Cabinet would satisfy all parties. It was desirable 
Major Eaton should leave the Cabinet and leave Washington. 
The mission to Russia was an honorable post, and he and Baron 
Krudener were friends and on intinate terms. This arrangement 
he spoke of as having been for some time UNDER CONSIDER- 
ATION, and he assured me there would be a change of the Cab- 
inet before Congress closed its session. He mentioned the in- 
dividual who would probably succeed Mr. Branch. He alluded 
to an ‘insuperable bar’ to this arrangement, provided Major 
Eaton was refractory and determined to remain, and that was, in 
overcoming the friendly feelings of the President. He seemed to 
despond when he spoke of the abiding affection which formed so 
prominent a trait in his character and which never would permit 
him to forsake a friend. 

ba 7%. 
“Correspondence between Mr. Eaton and Mr. Berrien. 
“Washington City, Monday Morning, 
“July 25th, 1831. 
peySIE.- 

In your letter to me of the 18th of June, in reply to mine of the 
preceding day, you in effect say (although denying my right to 
interrogate you) that the attacks made upon me in a paper of 
this city were ‘ without your agency.’ You volunteered the de- 
claration, that you did not ‘ think it necessary to decide upon the 
truth or falsehood of the statements which were made,’ in relation 
to my family; leaving me to understand that as you had formed no 
opinion, so neither had you expressed one in any wise derogatory 
of me. After these explicit disavowals as to yourself, I did not 
deem it proper to take exception or to hold you personally account- 
able, for conforming to rumors which you may have heard, or ‘ to 
the general sense of the community,’ which you so falsely assume 
as a pretext to injure me, and to disparage hundreds of the most 
respectable persons in our country, who have maintained friend- 
ly relations with me and my family, persons in all respects equal in 
standing with you and those who hold intercourse with you. Upon 
this proof of my forbearance, a forbearance which I ever hope to 
exercise except in cases of high emergency, you have grown bold; 
and in a labored article recently addressed to the public over your 
signature, giving countenance and sanctipn to the base slanders 
which have been propagated against me in my domestic relations. 
You speak of them ‘as evils which presented an insuperable bar 
to your entering the Cabinet,’ and that your assent was finally 
given under the persuasion that the President would speedily see 
his error, and by removing me, correct the evil. This is what 


636 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


you intend to say, omitting at the same time a material fact which 
was known to you, that I was the identical person through whom 
was communicated to you the desire of the President that you 
should enter his Cabinet; and that through the same person. you 
returned an answer offering at the time private business only as a 
reason why you could not and did not at the instant of the applica- 
tion make a prompt acceptance or refusal. 

“Sir, the open attempt now made, unprovoked, one altogether 
uncalled for by any course of mine towards you, is obvious to every 
eye. ‘The whole nation must perceive that your object and pur- 
pose is to mark me with dishonorable imputation. These efforts 
of yours, so persevered in, will, I confidently believe and hope, 
justify me to the American people, and to all honorable men, in 
requiring of you the reparation due to one who so wantonly has been 
abused, insulted and injured; and accordingly I do require it. 

‘With due respect, 
“J. H. Eaton. 
“To Jno. McPherson Berrien, Esq. 

“P. S. This letter was prepared to be delivered to you on Mon- 
day, but the absence of the friend, who was expected to be the 
bearer, the daily expectation of his return, and the difficulty of 
procuring one unconnected here with the Government, has occa- 
sioned the delay. 

“). Wee 

“To this letter a long argumentative reply was returned. I 
never saw it. My friend refused to receive it, as not being a 
proper and definite answer to the call. General Hunter’s letter 
explains what afterwards took place. It is as follows: 


‘Washington, Tuesday Evening, 
August 2nd, 1831. 
“Dear Sir: 

I inclose to you the correspondence which has taken place be- 
tween General Jones and myself, to whom I was referred as the 
friend of Mr. Berrien. 

“You will perceive from the character the transaction had 
assumed in my absence I had only one course to pursue on my re- 


turn to this city, which was to explain the reason of that absence 


and require of Mr. Berrien to an explicit demand, an answer equally 
so. I was informed verbally by the General that his friend had 
taken his ground in the rejected communication, from which he 
would not depart; and that if the case of Major Eaton was pressed 
further at this time, it was to be understood as declined. I, 
however, thought it best to deliver my note and await a written 
reply. General Jones’ letter of the 2nd of August in answer to mine 
of the first, nothing other than a confirmation of what had been 
verbally declared to me the previous evening, and I accordingly 
assumed upon myself to say as your friend I could hold no further 
correspondence with him on the subject. Deeming it unnecessary 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 637 


and improper to proceed further, as I considered the matter finally 

closed, I remit it back to your hands. In conducting this busi- 

ness I take occasion to say that I was at the place of conference 

during Thursday and the next day from 10 to 3 o’clock, leaving a 

_ note saying I should again be in attendance on Saturday. 

“IT am, Sir, with great respect, 

“Your friend and obedient servant, 
“Alexander Hunter. 


“Major John Eaton.” 


Copy of a letter, addressed by General Hunter to Mr. Berrien, 
which he was directed to deliver to General Jones, as the 
friend of Mr. Berrien, dated 


“Washington City, August Ist, 1831. 

it: . 

Severe indisposition since Friday evening last, confined me to 
my bed and prevented me from conferring with you on the sub- 
ject of Major Eaton’s call of Thursday. I was consequently not 
in place when your answer of Saturday (as I understand) was 
presented. Hence, from necessity, it was read by another friend, 
who, deeming it inadmissible, returned it. 

I now await your answer. The call of Major Eaton is explicit, 
it is expected the answer will be equally so. 

“Tam, Sir, very respectfully, 

“Your most obedient, 
“Alexander Hunter. 


“John McPherson Berrien, Esq.” 


Copy of so much of General Jones’ letter to me, in answer to mine 
of the Ist of August, addressed to Mr. Berrien, as relates to 
the subject matter, received 


“12 o'clock, August 2nd, 1831. 
“Dear General: 

“In answer to the note which you put into my hands at parting 
this evening, for Mr. Berrien, I can only recapitulate, in few words, 
what, for your private satisfaction as_a gentleman and man of 
honor, I have already communicated to you verbally. 


“According to Mr. Berrien’s appointment with you on Thurs- 

day, he sent by a member of his family (wholly unapprised at the 

_ time, of the nature and tendency of the correspondence) a sealed 
letter to yourself, enclosing a written answer to the note delivered 
_ by you from Major Eaton. The bearer of this answer attended 
several times, both on Friday and Saturday, at the place of ap- 
_ pointment, but without meeting you, in consequence, as I now 
understand, of your confinement at home from indisposition. 
On Saturday, he was met at the place of appointment by another 
friend of Major Eaton, with authority to receive the communica- 


638 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


tion in your place; which, after being opened and read, was forth- 
with returned to Mr. Berrien, with a verbal intimation that Major 
Eaton would not receive it. 

‘“This seems to close the door to all correspondence between the 
parties, and of course to any communication in reference to the 
original demand upon Mr. Berrien, between third persons, acting 
in their behalf. In Mr. Berrien’s proffered answer to Major Eaton, 
he has taken his ground, and upon that, under existing circum- 
stances, he must stand as firm and immoveable as he would upon 
any other that he might have elected. After the indignity of 
having the answer, which he had devised, thrown back upon‘ his 
hands as unworthy of reply, without the slightest explanation 
how or why it was deemed inadmissible im limine, he cannot sub- 
mit to the task of graduating new answers by an imaginary scale, 
till he may chance to have descended to some supposed degree of 
admissible answer. I was myself wholly unapprized of this un- 
happy affair till it was communicated to me this morning; when 
I engaged, in case you should take any further agency in the mat- 
ter, to explain to you individually as a gentleman, what guarded 
respect to the original medium of communication between the 
parties, Mr. B. had observed in all that had been transacted dur- 
ing your absence, and how completely all direct and authorized 
intervention had been cut off, and the affair remitted to the dis- 
cretion of mere parties. Such was the beginning, and such was 
the end of my present commission. 

Copy of my answer to the foregoing letter, dated 
“Washington, August 2d, 1831. 
“Dear General: 

“From your note of this morning, it appears that the matter, 
so far as you aré concerned, as the friend of Mr. Berrien, is term- 
inated; as the friend of Major Eaton I can, therefore, hold no 
further correspondence with you. 

“TI am, dear Sir, yours very truly, 
“Alexander Hunter.”’ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToRY 639 


elles ea ea Te eee rT 
CHAPTER 23. 


E Funeral Oration by Honorable Ephraim H. Foster of 
Tennessee in the McKendree Church in Nashville, 
on the occasion, of the honoring of the obsequies 
of Henry Clay, July 28, 1852. 

Sc 


pe seoe5eseoese 


‘i 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


“Nashville, July 29th, 1852. 
“To the Hon. Ephraim H. Foster: 

“Dear Sir: The general Committee of Arrangements, appointed 
by the Citizens of Nashville, to prepare the Obsequies of Henry 
Clay, have directed the undersigned to solicit for publication a 
copy of your very eloquent Oration upon that occasion. Hoping 
that it may be agreeable to you to gratify the wishes of your numer- 
ous friends by a compliance with this request, 

“We have the honor to subscribe ourselves, 

“Your very obedient servants, 
“John Hu. Smith, 
“Ro. G. Smiley, 
“Jno. A. McEwen, 
“Committee. 


“Nashville, July 29th, 1852. 
“To Messrs. John Hugh Smith, Ro. G. Smiley, John A. McEwen, 
Committee. 

“Gentlemen: I have received your polite note of this morning, 
requesting me to furnish you for publication a copy of the Oration 
delivered on the occasion of the Obsequies of the Hon. Henry Clay; 
and with pleasure herewith hand a copy of the same for that pur- 
pose. 

“Be pleased to accept my grateful acknowledgements for the 
kind and complimentary terms you speak of it. At the same time, 
I fear that the judgment of the public will not be as favorable as 
your own. 

“T have the honor to remain, 

“Very faithfully, your obedient serv’t. 
“EK. H. Foster.” 


FUNERAL ORATION. 


“The emblems of mourning that hang in deep and studied 
festoons around this sacred desk, the anxious and attentive gaze of 
so many silent eyes, and the solemn stillness that pervades these 
consecrated walls, all proclaim the sorrow that penetrates every 


640 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


heart in this vast assembly. The angel of death has been in our 
midst. He has struck in our high places. A great man has fallen, 
and we come together, on a day set apart and dedicated to his 
memory, to manifest our grief. Henry Clay is no more. In the 
ripeness of old age, but more crowned with honors and renown than 
he was blessed with lengthened years, he has been gathered to the 
fathers. He sleeps in the noiseless tomb, and we shall see him no 
more, forever, in the glory and the brightness of his long and shin- 
ing career. 

“And who will say that his departure—late as it was—so 
natural in the course of time and so much to be expected—is not 
a national loss! Or friend or foe, who, in this hour of our sadness, 
can refuse to join in a parting tribute to the recollection of a patriot 
whose fame has reached the utmost borders of civilization, and 
whose imperishable name will be chronicled in all time to come, in 
the proudest annals of the Republic? 

‘““And now that he has passed to his great account, it is good to 
dwell on such a man, and, in the hour of these funeral rites, to re- 
peat the story of his deeds and recount some of the great actions 
that have distinguished and immortalized his life. 

“The illustrious citizen whose loss we now so deeply deplore, 
was born in the ancient commonwealth of Virginia in the month of 
April, 1777. He was of poor, but virtuous and reputable parentage, 
and under the pressure of that inherited destitution which so often 


nerves and spirits a noble and generous ambition, he was—like . 


most others of his great compeers, the living and the dead, whose 
characters already illuminate and adorn the short but brilliant 
page of our national progress—the architect of his own fortunes: 
and from the most humble and unpromising beginnings, ascended 
the ‘high estate’ which signalized his life and has finally given him 
an historic name. The ‘Mill Boy of the Slashes’-—such was the 
homely soubriquet of his youthful days—deprived, in early boy- 
hood, of the provident care of a good father, was necessarily con- 
signed to the culture and protection of an indigent but exemplary 
mother, and opened his horn book for the first time, in a school 
house ‘made of crib-logs, with no floor, but the earth, the entrance 
—serving for door, window and air—being always open.’ Under 
these lean and unfavorable auspices, and without ever afterwards 
having had the advantage of any higher source of tuition, he began 
and ended his literary pupilage, and was, at the tender age of 
fifteen, transferred thence to a mercantile counter in the City of 


Richmond, and, at the end of another year, to a lower clerkship — 


in the high court of chancery of Virginia. 

“A faithful representation, up to this time, of the person and the 
appearance of the obscure lad who was destined, in the fullness of 
his days to command the united confidence and applause of an 
admiring people, would unfold a picture at which a cynic might 
smile, and which, in the moral it forcibly teaches, should excite the 
‘high hopes’ of all the poor and unwashed children who swarm in 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 641 


the low log cabins of this equal, free and happy land. The future 
statesmen and orator—he, on whose patriotic and burning lips a 
listening senate has so often hung in delight and veneration, and 
whose mighty voice, warmed by the most pure and lofty inspira- 
tions, so frequently afterwards invoked the genius of liberty in our 
public councils, or called back the nation to a knowledge of its true 
and best interests—was, in his youthful days, awkard and un- 
gainly in person and deportment, and might then be seen at any 
summer's sunrise—half clad, uncovered and unshod—bounding 
along in a merry gambol of innocent and thoughtless boyhood, 
heading a juvenile chase after the small game of the adjoining 
woods, or, tricked off with the home made satchel that contained 


hhis book and his coarse and scanty mid-day meal, trudging to the 


school house, all full of morning joy and gay and sportive as the 
wild birds that caroled in the forest around him. 

“Such were the first prospects and such the early promise of a 
hapless lad, who, on the proof of his own words, ‘never recognized a 
father’s smile, nor felt his caresses,’ and who, with all his un- 
rivalled latent powers—‘poor and penniless, without the favor of 
the great and with an imperfect and inadequate education,’ but 
for the timely interposition of a few generous friends, might have 
gone, with the million who had preceded him,’ unwept, unhonored and 
unsung’ to an obscure or an ignoble grave—for-so, indeed, it has 
often happened, that genius, repressed by ‘chill penury’, or fatally 
blighted by the ignorance or the cold indifference of an envious and 
self seeking world, has been doomed to lead an inglorious life and 
disappear forever, without leaving a solitary trophy behind to com- 
memorate its hard fought battles, its victories; and the extent and 
immortality of its conquests. 

“Most happy, however, for the American people and for the 
lamented dead whose obsequies we now celebrate, the grateful 
patronage that kindly removed him from his humble and unnoted 
birth place to the ancient capital of his native State, rescued his 
name irom oblivion and laid the foundations, broad and deep, of 
the brilliant fortunes he afterwards achieved. 

“At the immediate time of his auspicious advent into Rich- 
mond, the great destined statesman was, we are told, indifferently 
advanced in the most common country education of his day. He 
Was provincial too, and unrefined in his manners, and clad in 
domestic garments of uncouth cut and texture. They were the 
best, no question, and the most genteel that the loom and the hands 
of the good mother of the “‘Slashes’’ could fabricate and fashion: 
but they figured strangely in the streets and saloons of a polished 
metropolis, and made the awkard lad who wore them, a rare and 
fit subject for the jests and criticisms of his youthful associates. 
A short acquaintance however, with the high merits and the true 
worth of the rustic of Hanover, quickly turned ridicule into respect 
and admiration; and it was not long before those who were the 
first to laugh at, were the first to honor and applaud him. The 


41 


642 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE HISTORY ~ 


artless and unsophisticated ‘new comer’ they soon discovered, 
was willing, apt and vigilant in service—he was virtuous—he was 
industrious and steady in his habits and with all, he manifested 
superior capacity and an extraordinary rapidity of perception, 
and could with little instruction and as little practice, master and 
accurately execute and dispatch any branch of office business to 
which he was detailed. He delighted, too, in days of labor and 
nights of reading and contemplation; and accordingly his idle and 
pleasure hunting companions, returning at a late hour from their 
accustomed revels, always found him seated, where they had left 
him, attentively engaged in some favorite study. 

“What wonder then that a great chancellor—the learned and 
illustrious preceptor of Jefferson—whose duties led him frequently 
to the apartments of his clerk, should become acquainted with the 


extraordinary mental endowments and the rare worth of the favo- » 


rite of his official household. What wonder that this.clerk, at the 
earnest request of the good chancellor, should transfer his excellent 
and trusty subordinate to the former as his copyist, his confidential 
friend and his associate in the manual labors of his station. What 
wonder, indeed, that this venerable and afflicted Judge—tull of 
benevolence as he was of wisdom and knowledge, and always the 
patron and adviser of virtuous and aspiring youth—charmed with 
the industry and capacity of his destitute and talented assistant, 
should take him by the hand, point him to the high summit whence 
flowed wealth and fame, and nobly volunteer to aid, direct and 
guide his footsteps in an attempt to make the rugged and dan- 
gerous ascent. And in this generous offer, the future destiny and 
the bright fortunes. of this promising young scribe were securely 
sealed. He entered eagerly on the study of the law, and having in 
due season completed his forensic education, he removed, before 
the close of his twenty-first year, to the State of Kentucky, and 
commenced his professional career in a town to which his great 
name and his residence have imparted national immortality—for, 
Lexington, so long honored by his presence, and, by his own beauti- 
ful Ashland—now another Monticello in the West—cultivated and 
adorned by his taste and his labors, and finally hallowed by the 
ashes of its illustrious lord, shall live in history and in song, and 
be visited by pilgrim patriots until the American people shall 
cease to imitate the virtues of their heroic sires, and grow weary 
of that freedom for which they expended so much blood and treas- 
ure, and for the possession of which so many millions now mourn in 
hopeless and heavy chains of bondage and captivity. 

‘““‘We need not dwell on the professional progress and the rapid 
rise of our ambitious beginner. His acquirements, the practical 
powers of his mind, and his intellectual capacity bore their rich 
fruits, and the young stranger, who—penniless and friendless—had 
courageously taken his seat ‘in the midst of a bar uncommonly 
distinguished by eminent members,’ and who has himself recorded 
the joy and delight with which he received his first ‘fifteen shilling 


Se 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLyY TENNESSEE History 643 


fee,’ realized his brightest day dreams, and ‘immediately rushed 
into a successful and lucrative practice.’ And if there be any in 
this large assembly—as some, we are sure, there must be—who, 
under similar disadvantages, have achieved similar professional 
fortunes, they will, we know, in view of these cheering examples, 
join us in commending hope and confidence to the hearts of the 


’ whole American youth. Let them be early taught to know and 


believe that, in a Government of practical freedom and equality, 
there is no ‘royal road’ to the temple of Fame—that the pathway 
thither is open alike to every condition of life, and that so long as 
the opulent and the high born, can assert no titled supremacy, 
the poor and humble should never repine or despair. If indeed, 
they will only remember the encouraging truth, the surest pro- 
mise is theirs; for the experience of every observer proves, that 
whilst wealth and plenty, too often enervate and relax the energies 
of the mind and lessen the chances of ambition, the want of these 
doubtful blessings gives strength and inspiration to the heart, and 
often times enables the indigent and needy to reach honors which 
riches alone can never purchase and seldom or ever win. 

“In the instance of the departed statesman of whom we speak, 
the short interval between his successful appearance at the bar and 
the beginning of his political career—though full of interest to him- 
seli—is chiefly to be signalized in a public notice of his life, by a 
marriage, which—fortunately for both parties—was as happy and as 
full of constancy and affection as it was enduring. The venerable 
mother of his children—a few years his junior—blessed and sup- 
ported with more health and vigor of mind and body, than usually 
accompany her protracted existence, and crowned, in the late twi- 
light of a long and exalted day, with unclouded hope and confidence 
on the promises of her holy religion, still lives to join in the united 
grief of a great nation over the canonized remains of the man of 
her first, her last and her only love. She had seen the cold and un- 
charitable earth close over all of her numerous offspring save four, 
and she had doubly mourned a heroic son—in name, in person and 
in pride and chivalry, the mould and image of his own great father 
—who had gloriously fallen, far away from home, doing gallant 
battle for his country. In these overpowering calamities she had 
gently bowed her submissive head and looked to Heaven. 

“But the inexorable messenger—insatiate of victims—too 
soon alas for a broken heart, came again, and the aged and be- 
reaved matron—stricken down by a last hard blow, to a still deeper 
depth of sadness and sorrow—sits now in her lonely and discon- 
solate chamber, weeping by day, and through her dreary midnight 
vigils, over the loved lord she shall see no more forever—he who, in 
manhood and in old age, and through many long years, had been 
the object of her affectionate attachment and admiration, and 
whose kind and familiar voice had, in other days, so often turned 
her soul to notes of life and joy, or soothed and calmed her heart 
in the hour of its unutterable afflictions. 


644 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


“Truly a mother is Israel; she is a child of ‘many sorrows and 
full of grief.’ Of sorrows, indeed, that pierce and paralyze the 
heart, but speak not, and are only seen in the heaving bosom, or 
heard in the deep drawn sigh of hopeless and unspeakable despair. 
We may send her our sympathies and join in her griefs: but the 
great Physician, who dwells above, can, alone, administer the balm 
of healing to a prostrate and downtrodden spirit; and He will, in 
His own good time and manner, dry up the widow’s tears, or miti- 
gate her sufferings. To his merciful and beneficent keeping, then, 
we consign the aged mourner and turn our thoughts again to the 
dead. 

“In the beginning of this century, we know, historically, that 
the two great parties which then divided the American people, 
had assumed, towards each other, a’ most rancorous, resolute and 
determined attitude of political hostility. The civic war of that 
day raged with vehemence, in all the length and breadth of 
the land, and such was the bitterness of the strife that, in the 
violent collisions of opinion, many good men trembled for the 
safety of the Republic. If there was any neutral ground with- 
in all our borders, where the peaceful might have stood and con- 
templated the fearful fraternal struggle, there were none so tame or 
so indifferent as to be ready or willing to occupy its space. The 
old, the middle aged and the young, all alike excited, rushed to the 
battle-fleld, and nowhere else were the elements of contention 
more fervid and fierce than they were in the young ‘Hunter State’ 
of the West. 

“Tf the Federal party in Kentucky vainly boasted a superiority 
in the wealth and talent of the country, the Republican party felt 
the strength and vitality of numbers; and these quailed not, neither 
did they blanch before the enemy. They, too, had their leaders— 
brilliant, fearless and undaunted—for Henry Clay, true to the in- 
stincts of the liberty loving class from which he sprung, and early 
in the Virginia school, was of them and among them. He was there, 
a youthful, but a steel clad warrior, ignorant of the weight and ex- 
cellence of his own good helmet and buckler, or of the strength 
and keenness of his political battle-axe—a giant he was indeed, un- 
conscious of ‘the might that slumbered’ in a giant’s arms. 

‘“‘On the occasion of a great public meeting in Lexington, and an 
animated and fiery discussion growing out of the measures of policy 
adopted by the elder Adams, and which have given an odious and a 
memorable notoriety to his administration, Henry Clay was un- 
expectedly called up by the shouts and loud cries of a burning and 
indignant people to address his republican fellow citizens in de- 
fense of the principles of his party. The want of a more suitable 
forum was, in a plain and unartful generation, not unfrequently 
supplied by a convenient cart; and from the tail of one of these 
primitive vehicles—where he was forcibly planted by the multi- 
tude—he stood up before the public, for the first time in his life, 
in political debate. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 645 


“Unaccustomed to the new’scene, and intimidated—as well he 
might have been—hby the novelty of the task before him, and his 
own want of experience and preparation, the future hero of the day 
—we are told—grew pale, and faltered and for a few painful mo- 
ments, his trembling limbs, and the inarticulate sounds that passed 
his lips, threatened his own disgrace and the defeat and utter con- 
fusion of his friends. Such are not, unfrequently, the trials of true 
genius, even in its most ripe and mature growth; for real greatness, 
often times, stops and stammers at a threshold where ‘fools rush in’ 
with vain and presumptuous courage and self possession.* But 
happily for his fame and his future hopes, a minute more, and in 
that flying minute ‘Richard was himself again.’ The hesitation of 
our young and noble orator, was but the timid and fearful crouch- 
ing of the lion-whelp who has never before essayed the power of his 
muscles, or successfully struck at the object of his terrible bound. 
The blood, which in the excitement of an untried exhibition, had 
rushed to the head and the heart of the speaker and scattered his 
thoughts, soon retreated to run again in its natural channels, 
and a restored circulation enabled him to give free utterance to 
the forcible and convincing arguments and conceptions of a rich 
and unrivaled intellect. The soul, relieved of fear and pressure, 
poured forth a flood of living eloquence, and when the scene closed 
and the curtain dropped, the victory was complete and over-whelm- 
ing. The wrapped and listening fathers of the party lavished on 
the young orator their most grateful praise and all their congratu- 
lations, and the great multitude that heard him—full of admiration 
and frenzied with joy and delight—-seized the cart on which he was 
still standing, and, with loud and deafening shouts of applause, 
drew the new born object of their political idolatry in triumph, 
through the streets of the city. 


“When we remember how often it happens that the course 
and the labors of a long life are shaped and permanently influenced, 
by the accidental events of a day or even an hour of time, we may 
readily believe that the destiny of our great friend and all his sub- 
sequent glory and public usefulness were created and adjusted in 
the incidental display we have just recounted. To suppose him 
insensible to the renown he had so suddenly and causually achieved, 
would be to deny him the most honorable and commendable pride 
that can animate the human soul. We should stand too, in equal 
disregard of the proofs of the strong emotions that dwell within 
our own bosoms, to imagine, that, with a modest and unboasted 
consciousness of his own powers, and with all the unexpected laurels 
of that day thick clustering around his youthful brow, he could 
have rashly determined to withhold himself from public promotion 
and all the exalted honors that follow in its train. He might have 
reasoned with himself, we admit, and, under the pressure of want, 
or, the pleas of previous obligations, he might have had the resolu- 
tion to check, and postpone the tempting aspiration. But under 
less powerful persuasions, a more temperate ambition has not al- 


way 


646 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ways been proof against its own yearnings, or against the flattering 
compliments and solicitations of the world; and it would have been 
a deplorable exception, indeed, if the illustrious object of these 
solemn funeral rites—warm hearted, generous, brave, great and con- 
fiding as he was, and full of patriotism and love of country—had 
resisted the seductive allurements of place and station, and passed 
his long and lengthened years in the privacy of domestic life. 
Happier and more blessed and contented by far, we admit, he © 
might have been—but, who—in the name and behalf of this great 
people and of all coming posterity, we ask it—who else of his day 
and generation could have borne his heavy armor or filled the wide 
place he occupied in the hearts of that people and in the difficult 
counsels of the.Republic? Let a Nation answer. 

“But, whatever his reasons, his desires or his motives may have 
been, we know that Henry Clay entered on his political life at an 
early age, and soon after he had passed through the ordeal we just 
described. We know too, that after an almost uninterrupted public 
service of nearly the half of a long century, he died, near his post at 
Washington, in full panoply, and in the bright blaze of all his own 
greatness and glory. 

“A short but active apprenticeship of several sessions in the 
Legislature of his State—where he soon distinguished himself, 
and where, on his last return he received the honors of the Speaker’s 
chair—opened his way to Congress; and we find him, as soon as 
the number of his years had removed a constitutional disability, — 
seated in the Senate of the United States, and participating in the 
counsels of that august and imposing assembly. Subsequently 
called by his State to the same exalted station—both occasions to 
fill short vacancies—he could in his own good pleasure, have been 
continued in that elevated office, but, in 1811, the doubtful and 
threatening relations of our Government with the British crown, 
and the strong probability of a rupture with that Power, turned his. 
ambition into a different channel, and he sought in the House of 
Representatives, a field of public labor more arduous but more con- 
genial with his temper and disposition, and more suited to a practi- 
cal exercise of the talents he had so patriotically resolved to devote 
to the vindication and support of an injured and insulted country. 

“Thither, then, Mr. Clay was returned by the people of his 
district in the 34th. year of his age, and though it was his first- 
appearance in a Legislative assembly, full of veteran members and 
dignified with the collected wisdom of the Union, he was chosen by 
a large majority to preside over its deliberations. What but the 
reputation that preceded him, could have commanded so great a 
tribute, and what but the most indisputable personal worth and ex- 
cellence, accompanied and adorned by the highest intellectual 
endowments, could have accomplished such rare and early fame? 

‘‘Nor was the enviable distinction, thus first conferred, ever 
afterwards seriously contested or withheld from our illustrious 
friend whilst he remained a member of the House of Representa- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 647 


tives. His commission—seven times renewed and commensurate 
with his whole service there—was only interrupted when important 
foreign duties, or domestic necessity withdrew him, temporarily, 
from his seat in that body, and only terminated when, in view of 
other and more responsible political engagements, he gave a final 
adieu to a branch of Government where he had labored long and 
with constant fidelity, and from the individual members of which 
he had received so many evidences of friendship and so many 
tokens of profound confidence and veneration. 

_ “hey reckon, indeed, without knowledge or reflection, who 
suppose that the important and responsible office to which our last 
remarks allude, can be easily executed, and may, therefore, be 
coveted by men of moderate abilities and short experience in the 
rules of business and decorum that guide and govern in all de- 
liberative assemblies. ‘The Speaker’s chair—though cushioned it 
may be, and curtained with richest silks—is not a bed of roses or a 
place of rest and repose. To the successful administration of its 
varied duties, the occupant must bring the help of as many varied 
and rare qualifications; and in this respect no man was ever more 
eminently endowed than the great and unrivalled Speaker of our 
text. He never mingled arrogance with authority; but was dig- 
nified in his place without being vain or magisterial in his manner— 
he kindly instructed the ignorant—he corrected good men with a 
bow and a smile, and in that way blunted the sting of a painful but 
necessary reproof—he checked the turbulent by his stern and un- 
shaken firmness—he always knew the business of the House, and 
he knew, too, how to hurry and despatch it without vexing or 
offending a laggard—when he left the chair he threw behind him 
the gavel and the mace, and joined in plain or playful converse and 
association with all around him, so that by his person and manner a 
stranger could not distinguish the great speaker from his clerk or 
his door keeper. In this way, and by a constant practice of equity 
and fair dealing, he won a confiding dominion over the hearts of all 
men of all parties, and was thereby enabled throughout all his 
lengthened presidency and in times of highest political excitement, 
to preserve such order in the House as was never before excelled 
and has never since been equaled. It is related of him, that being 
questioned by a friend on the late adjournment of a social evening 
party where the pleasures of the feast had unwittingly led the 
guests to encroach on the morning hours, ‘how he could preside 
over the House that day,’ he sportively replied, ‘come up and you 
shall see how I will throw the reins on their necks.’ 

“But the enlarged and commanding mind that so happily 
accomplished the useful and important objects we have just por- 
trayed, could not be content to sit in inglorious ease, and maintain 
the good order of an assembly of men without endeavoring to in- 
fuse wisdom into their deliberations, and aiding in an attempt to 
guide and influence their thoughts and decisions. Hence, therefore, 
Mr. Clay did not, at any time, during his long presidency over the 


648 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


House of Representatives, confine himself to the duties and details 
of the chair; nor did he withhold his voice or his exhortations in 
the eventful struggle through which the nation was then passing. 
Eloquent in speech, and powerful in argument—persuasive—ardent 
and brave, but always loyal to the constitution and to the honor 
and best interests of his country—he entered eagerly into all 
the counsels and public discussions of that memorable epoch, and, 
in his deeds and his labors, reared a monument to his own fame 
which time can never alter or obliterate. Born to command, and 
esteeming the point of danger to be the post of honor, he chose that 
point, and was ever foremost in the strife, and the bitter conflicts of - 
the day. He fought in one battle to harden himself for the perils 
and fatigues of another, and, sword in hand, he stood either at the 
weak place of his defenses, or was found heading his friends in a 
desperate assault on the works and the strong positions of the 
adversary. He knew no rest whilst there was an armed foeman in 
the field; nevertheless, he loved peace if it could be had on safe, 
just and allowable terms, and he would, in the din and wild outcry 
of the combat, turn the hilt of his sword to the enemy and im- 
ploringly show the olive branch that humanely ornated its glitter- 
ing point. It was thus that the ‘great pacificator’ rescued the 
Republic in the fearful struggle for the admission of the State of 
Missouri into our Union, and gained to himself more than the 
proud honors of the ‘mural wreath.’ Nor will he be without his 
reward—the only reward a true patriot ever asks or expects—for, 
although the witnesses of a day when ‘the blackness of darkness’ 
hung over the broad land, are fast gliding away and there will 
soon now be none left to recount its alarms, yet history—true to 
its office—will keep the eternal record, and its pages will weave 
unfading garlands for the brow of the statesman, who by his frater- 
nal mediation, his eloquence, and his civic valor, achieved a blood- 
less triumph for his country saving by the deed, the Union of these 
States, and, with it, our only high promise of future national glory, 
and the last hope and earthly refuge of human liberty. 

“Tt is not within the legitimate limits of a funeral address, nor 
is it expected of us on this occasion, to follow the honored and 
lamented dead of our present sorrows, through all the acts and in- 
cidents of a long and eventful life. We may only stop, in a rapid ~ 
portraiture, to sketch, from the broad and bright landscape before 
us, the scenes that most illustrate the transcendant powers of a 
great mind, or best delineate the high and sublime traits of a noble, 
patriotic and elevated heart. And his political opinions—the 
measure of State he advocated and the measures he opposed fresh 
and green in the memory of this generation—are they not written 
down in the school books of our children, and have they not, long 
since, become things of household knowledge in every American 
family? To know Henry Clay was in fact, to admire his boldness, 
and to read, in wide, clear and open lines, the thoughts and the 
purposes of his brave and fearless soul. With him, indeed, candor 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 649 


was almost a fault—for, truly, he had no concealments, and, with- 
out any vain or hypocritical cant, he constantly observed that 
frankness which others frequently profess but seldom practice and 
he always labeled on his forehead the sentiments and the con- 
victions of his mind, and all the great ends and objects he hoped or 
intended to carry out and accomplish. 

““The friend of ‘Liberty’ everywhere, under every sky and in 
every clime, he daily worshiped at the shrine of his greatest earth- 
ly ‘idol’ and, in all her conflicts, breathed warmest prayers for 
the firm and successful establishment of her universal dominion. 
In the sunny realms of Greece the cradle of her early and beauteous 
youth, and the field of her first conquest—hapless South America, 
bound down in double chains of ignorance and despotism—in all 
Europe—in regions hard by the frozen Alps, or at the feet of the 
fiery mountains of an opposite continent, and wherever human 
valor raised its standard and fought for the rights of man, he wor- 
shipped her there; and his constant and fervent soul everywhere 
proclaimed the patriot’s motto ‘ubi Libertas, ibi patria.’ Univer- 
sal in his philanthrophy, he only knew his fellow man by the ‘face 
divine, and was ever ready to share with the oppressed of all 
nations that freedom he had so happily and gladly inherited, and 
so fondly and affectionately loved and cherished. 

“Early and thoroughly imbued with the doctrines of the first 
fathers, and satisfied with the constitutional power of Congress— 
under the auspices of a national revenue and by the public domain 
—to protect American—to protect American capital and encourage 
domestic industry, and, through similar agencies to facilitate 
and promote the commerce and intercourse of these States by 
means of internal improvements: convinced too, that a ‘wise and 
judicious’ execution of these great designs would develop the 
wealth, and place the prosperity and independence of his country 
on secure and impregnable grounds, Mr. Clay zealously dedicat- 
ed all his talents and the best hours of a long political life to the 
adoption and accomplishment of these important measures; and, 
in a just compliment to the constancy and ability with which he 
advocated these favorite projects he was, ever afterwards honored 
with the paternity of the ‘American System.’ 

“In the diversity of individual interest and the conflict of 
opinion it has not been the good fortune of the friends of this ‘sys- 
tem’’ to witness the fulfillment, in any considerable extent, of 
their broad and patriotic designs. But much has been done, and a 
progressive and more enlightened public sentiment gives hopeful 
assurance that Congress will—in cooperation, at least, with individ- 
ual enterprise—enlarge its bounties until by the gradual advance- 
ment and final completion of the vast net work of improvement 
now in execution and under hopeful contemplation, the ‘iron 
horse’ and the ‘winged steamer’ shall, in their rapid powers of 
flight, bring our most remote regions into immediate contiguity 
with each other and with their common centre, and thereby secure 


650 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTory 


the prosperity and perpetuity of our blessed Union, by binding all 
its parts together indissoluble with chains of interest and fraternity. 

‘We have already stated the patriotic motives which induced 
Mr. Clay—with a conceded option between the two positions to 
prefer a place in the House of Representatives to the higher honors 
of a seat in the Senate. The fears and apprehensions that decided 
this preference were soon realized and our foreign relations too 
painfully proved that the issue of battle could alone save us from 
National degradation. 

“In the long and exhausting wars waged between England and 
France and their respective allies—commencing with the convul- 
sions attending the French revolution, and only closing on the 
bloody field of Waterloo—both of these great powers, disregarding 
our neutral rights, and mistaking our forbearance and our peace- 
ful remonstrances for cowardice or want of ability to resent 
and avenge our wrongs, had by many arbitrary acts and decrees, 
interrupted and nearly destroyed our commerce on the high seas. 
They had insulted our flag, plundered our ships, and legalized 
among their subjects,.a most odious and insufferable system of 
maritime robber. If the authorities of France had, at length, 
abandoned the intolerable policy, England, more reckless and de- 
termined and more insolent in her strength, not only persisted, but 
doubled and enlarged our injuries by stopping our vessels, seizing 
our sailors and compelling them to fight her battles, or to take the 
alternative of being chained to the guns or locked up in the loath- 
some dungeons of her floating prisons. To have submitted any 
longer to such wrongs and indignities would have subjected the 
apostate name of America to the scorn and contempt of the civi- 
lized world, and proved her people unworthy of their high descent 
and of that freedom which their gallant ancestors had successfully 
achieved through a sea of blood and over many a sad field of 
slaughter and desolation. Happily for the national honor, that 
people—full of valor and panting for the conflict—had, in their 
hearts, already unsheathed the sword and stood to arms, impatient 
for the word of command and the battle cry of an injured and in- 
sulted country. d 

“And, in the appeals which preceded this just and fearful cry 
whose tongue—touched with patriotic indignation burning with 
fiery eloquence and loud among the loudest that thundered be- 
neath the domes and vaulted halls of our capitol was most frequent- 
ly heard in vindicating our rights, and exhorting to the onset, and 
amid the alternate hopes and fears that beset and perplexed the 
minds of many, invoking the hearty cooperation of the brave, and 
arousing the courage of the timid? Who, in the proud defiance of 
an insolent and powerful foe, and with a just reliance on the mercy 
and protection of that Supreme Majesty, who holds the destiny of 
men and nations in the hollow of his hand—who was the first to 
‘ery havoc and let slip the gods of war?’ Who, never vaunting in 
prosperity or despairing in adversity, stood steadily by afterwards 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 651 


and held up the arm of his government in all the trials and vi- 
cissitudes of the contest? Who, wise in council, bold in action, 
always prompt and never intimidated or discouraged looked alone 
to the merits of a good cause and refused to doubt the final tri- 
umphs of justice? In the midst of all these fearful trials, and when 
faction, like some dark, midnight demon, reared his gorgon head, 
hideously hissing unearthly sounds, and threatening the disunion 
of these happy States, and with it all the concomitant horrors of 
the foul and unnatural deed—who, foremost among the first, 
stood ‘in the imminent deadly breach,’ to meet the monster there, 
and battle him headlong back to breathe the pestilential vapors 
of his own deep and dreary caverns? And who, when the invi- 
tations of peace gave promise of future harmony on surer founda- 
tions was the first to meet the call, or who aided more in the 
honorable adjustment which restored the concord of warring 
powers, aud assured national rights that have never since been 
violated? All in all, who but the man of these solemn honors? 
Who but Henry Clay. ? 

“And the annals of that gloomiest period in the history of our 
government, do they not record this truthful echo, and will not all 
who hear our words, bear witness to the fidelity of these praises? 
Ii Tennessee—self honored in the great donation—gave the country 
the renowned and invincible warrior chief of an age of trouble and 
tribulation—so Kentucky, in life, his adored and adoring mother, 
in death, the depository of his ashes, presented mankind and’ the 
Union with the civil cotemporary, whose great and unrivalled 
powers as a statesman and orator, adorned by the purest patriotism 
and wrought for himself a name that will live commensurate with 
the republic and can only be lost or forgotten when our own glorious 
institutions, with all civilization everywhere, shall pass away for- 
ever and ‘like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a wreck be- 
hind.’ . 

“Bearing away to other scenes, and sketching only, where 
history would write a volume we gather in every step rich memorials 
oi the intellectual superiority, the devotion, the virtuous ambition 
and the peerless power and influence of a citizen who lived but to 
serve his country; who served that country but to rejoice in its 
growing strength and prosperity, and who, dying in the midst of 
his great labors, left behind him a last fervent prayer for our free 
institutions that they might successfully resist all intestine com- 
motion and all foreign invasion and stand forever in peaceful per- 
petuity, the heritage and the blessing of our children in all their 
generations to come, a refuge and a home for the oppressed of 
every land, and a model and beacon light to all future enfran- 
chised nations of the earth. 

“How deep that prayer, how full of patriotism, haw sublime, 
We must all admit when we call to mind how gloriously the aged 
and departed statesman of these solemn and imposing ceremonies, 
in all the acts of a long, anxious and toilsome life, illustrated its 


652 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


truth and sincerity. He was thrice, in less than thirty years, the 
pacificator, and as many times the savior of a convulsed and dis- 
tracted country; and in the last great peril, though bending under 
the weight of years and the superadded infirmites of age and time, 
he rose far above his previous renown, arid inscribed his own great 
name in deep and imperishable lines on the highest turret of the 
temple of fame. 

“And of us, and among us, who has forgotten, or can ever forget 
the fears and foreboding of that last most hazardous and threaten- 
ing hour in all our political existence,an hour when weak minds 
lost hope, and the strong man trembled when discord and fiery 
passion reigned supreme in our public councils, shedding the gloom 
of despair over many faces—that sad hour when the North and 
the South stood against each other in hostile array, to try to battle 
in which, if the latter had failed, this great Union, already tremb- 
ling on its foundations, must have fallen, and in the fall, must have 
covered alike, the conqueror and the conquered beneath its pros- 
trate pillars and all its melancholy ruins? It was, indeed, a time 
for the prayers and intercessions of good men of every party; a 
season of fearful apprehension, and a scene on which angels might 
have looked and wept. And in the bitter strife and the loud up- 
roar of angry and conflicting forces, whose voice could be heard? 
What arm was strong enough to save; where was the guardian spirit 
of the republic; the benign power that could pour oil on the troub- 
led waters, and hush to repose the howling of the furious tempest or 
where the earthly minister that could speak to the mad waves: 
‘Peace, be silent’—or proclaim to the surging ocean—‘Thus far 
shalt thou go, and no farther’ ? 

‘Thanks to the Great Supreme, whose soverign will can build 
up or destroy kingdoms, that good spirit was there, sorrowful, but 
serene in the midst of confttsion—there that minister stood— 


“““As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 

_ Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 

Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.’ 

‘““A great man rose up and all eyes were turned upon him—he 
spoke, and every one listened—he supplicated, and was heard—he 
commanded and was heeded—he raised a tremulous hand, bronzed 
with age and feeble, and pointing an attenuated finger to the 
glittering emblem that hung, in mid air, over their heads, he im- 
plored Senators to behold the golden symbol of the strength and 
power of the Republic, and to remember that ‘Liberty and Union’ 
were ‘now and forever, one and inseparable.’ His counsels and 
exhortations prevailed—peace and concord returned—a nation 
was saved! 

“And who was he—that man—the second father of his country 
the preserver of the Union and the benefactor of mankind—who 
was he of whom we speak? ‘The silent answer to our enquiry hangs 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 653 


trembling on every tongue in this great assembly, and applauding 
hearts are ready to utter the grateful sound. We seize the word, 
and repeat the name of Henry Clay! 

“Wonderful man—Statesman—Orator—Patriot—great among 
the great, wise among the wise, and, over all, combining in his 
character the strong powers that enabled him to sway the public 
policy! He it was who mainly led his country to its present high 
. fortunes, and laid the foundations of all our bright and hopeful 
promise upon a still greater future to come. 

“Nor can it be out of place in this short but interesting review 
of recent events, to offer the profound and grateful homage of 
_ Southern hearts to the exalted worth and patriotism of those 
statesmen of the North, who, in a just sense of paramount allegi- 
ance to a fixed law of our social compact, stood shoulder to shoulder 
with the illustrious object of our present griefs, and lent their all 
poweriul advocacy to the adoption and the prompt execution of a 
legislative contract, which, if faithfully fulfilled, must secure for- 
ever the peace and harmony of our country. 

“Honor, then, and all honor, and praise, and thanks, to these, 
and to all of the—but first to the man who, feeling himself to be 
the President oi the Nation and the whole Nation, and not a leader 
of any party, or of any fraction, or any fractional division of that 
Nation, was able—if he had any previous doubts—to unlearn and 
overcome the prejudices of place and education—to forget or dis- 
regard the influences and all the ties and tender associations of life, 
and boldly stand forward the defender of the constitution, and in 
his high place there, the preserver of our happy and ever glorious 
Union. His great reward is, we know, in ‘the answer of a good con- 
science’ before God and the world. But he bears with this pleasing 
reflection, the superadded gratitude and applause of all the good 
and virtuous of his own generation; and when these, and all these, 
shall have passed away and gone into the oblivion and the deep 
eternity of the grave, the historic record—flourishing in the bright 
and never-fading verdue of youth—shall still chronicle the renown 
We now proclaim, and the proud marble of Millard Fillmore, stand- 
ing side by side with the statues of Clay, of Webster, and of Cass, 
shall adorn the great halls and temples which—in all coming time— 
posterity will not fail to erect and dedicate to the defenders of the 
constitution and the illustrious fathers of the Republic. But we 
have already drawn this address beyond its intended limits, and 
with our grateful thanks for the honorable position assigned us by 
our fellow-citizens on this melancholy occasion, we hasten to the 
close of our mournful labors. 

“The successful passage of the compromise acts in the fall of 
- 1850, closed, forever, the active political labors of Henry Clay— 
and it was fit, indeed and meet that so great a man should close 
his toils with the close of a scene so great and so imposing. 

“Stricken with years, suffering too, as we have before stated, 
under the infirmities of age, and prostrated, unto sickness, by the 


654 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


excitement and the exhausting fatigues of his last field of glory, he 
felt, too truly, that he had fatally overtaxed the feeble powers of 
his body, and wisely thought to prepare himself by times, for the 
summons which, he could not help believing, would soon call him to 
the long home appointed for all the living. He had already made an 
open profession of faith in the blood and sacrifice of a Redeemer; 
and having devoutly surrendered his heart and all his soul to the 


religion of the bible, it only remained for him, in the few fleeting — 


moments of time before him, to observe and practice all its holy 
precepts, and to look alone to the atonement of the cross for that 
heavenly peace and consolation which all the vain and transitory 
honors of the world can neither give nor take away. 

“Fortified in his own reflections by the opinions and the advice 
of his medical friends, he determined to seek relief and an amelio- 
ration of his condition, by relaxation from all thought of public 
affairs; and, accordingly, taking leave of that body in whose coun- 
sels his mighty voice was destined never again to be heard, he 
travelled by way of the North, and, in slow and circuitous marches, 
finally reached his own home, whence, on the approach of the pre- 


sent session of congress, he returned, weak and enfeebled, to his” 


place at Washington. 

“Alas! for all the hopes and prayers of his friends, ‘the angel of 
death awaited him at the gates of the city,’ and a few rapid months 
drew up the curtain that concealed life from immortality, and 
manifested to his firm vision the realities of an eternal world. 

“A soft and gradual decay of the vital powers, unaccompanied 
by any protracted acute pain, gently and kindly cut the strong 
ligaments that chained his soul to its ‘mortal coil,’ and his great 
spirit, joyously bounding away from its earthly prison, soared 
aloft to Heaven, and unto the God who gave it. 


“Henry Clay, the great, the wise, the virtuous, the imcorrupt 


and incorruptible patriot—he is no more, and a nation mourns his 
departure! He fell like a sere and yellow leaf in autumn—tike ripe 
grain in time of harvest! He is gone where we must all go—for 
life is but a dream—in all its various estates a fleeting shadow! 
The poor die and sink to a neglected grave—the rich die and go to 
the sepulchre, clothed in linen and rich silks and are remembered 
by the costly marble that marks the resting place of their ashes. 
‘The tall, the wise, the reverend dead’—they too, must all die, 
and follow in the long and countless train that constantly trends to 
that undiscovered country from whose ‘bourne no traveller re- 
turns.’ i 

‘The boast of heraldry—the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, 

Await alike the inevitable hour: 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.’ 

“The Sage of Ashland—the Statesman of : mankind—the 

Orator of his age! He is no more! Great in life, sublime in the 
last struggle, and happy in his exit! 


656 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


eases ee eee ee ee ee eo ee es eo eT es es es ee 


afl 
a CHAPTER 24 | 


cf 
Celebration in New Orleans of one hundred years of 
peace, 1815—1915, and of the Battle of New Or- 
leans, Jan. 8, 1815; oration by Samuel M. 
re Wilson, Lexington, Kentucky. 
LT 


Tess ee ae] se eee eke efoto es] ose] pe ese eee eee ee] ee ese ees res] 


100 Years 
ot Peace 


THE BATTLE OF 
NEW ORLEANS. 


1815 OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 1915 


THE GENERAL COMMITTEE 
OF THE 


LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 


Having in charge the ceremonies 
commemorating the centenary of 


THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 
AND THE 


Completion of One Hundred Years of Peace Between the United 
Kingdom of Great Britian and the United States of America. 
(Under the authority of an act of the General Assembly of 
Louisiana.) 


T. P. THomeson, Chairman, 
W. O. Hart, Vice-Chairman, JoHN F. Court, Treasurer, 
James J. A. ForTIER, Secretary. 


1815| THE BATTLE OF | opyycrar, procramme | 100 Years |ioj5 
NEW ORLEANS. of Peace. 
Events 
of the 


CENTENNIAL CEREMONIES. 
Friday, January 8th. 
8:20 A. M. 
Head of Canal Street. 

Salute of 21 guns by Battery ‘“‘A,” Washington Artillery, 
Lietenant Stanley M. Lemarie. ‘The Salvo to be so timed that 
the last shot will be fired exactly one hundred years after the last 
cannon was discharged from the American lines January 8th, 1915. 


THE BATTLE MONUMENT AT CHALMETTE, NEW ORLEANS. 


Located on the spot where Jackson’s flag waved on his lines along Rodriguez Canal. Unveiled January 8 
1915, the 100 anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. 


- 


i hl cll 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 657 


10: A.M. 
City Hall. 

Reception to distinguished guests in Mayor’s parlors, by the 
Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of the City of New Orleans. 
10:15 A. M. 

Terminal Station. 

Departure of public school children for the Chalmette Battle- 
field on trains leaving from the Terminal Station on Canal Street. 
11:30 A. M. 

Head of Canal Street. 

Departure of river parade for the Chalmette Battlefield, led 
by official committee boat, S. S. Hanover. All river craft carry- 
ing passengers to unveiling exercises to disembark at Frisco Slips. 

Noon. 
Chalmette Battlefield. 
Firing of Congreve Rockets. 
“The Long Roll” on the very drum that called the Americans 
to Arms at the Battle of New Orleans. ‘‘The Drummer 
Boy of Chalmette” was a free boy of color named Jourdan. 

Music: ‘Stars and Stripes forever’. 

Invocation—Reyv. Geo. H. Cornelson, Jr., of the First Presby- 

terian Church of New Orleans, formally of Nashville, Tenn. 

Music: “Nearer My God To Thee’. 
Salutation—Luther E. Hall, Governor of Louisiana and intro- 

duction of T. P. Thompson, Chairman, Centennial Commit- 
tee, Louisiana Historical Society and Master of Ceremonies. 

Music: ‘Dixie’’. 

Welcome—Mrs. M. H. Stem, former President United States 
Daughters of 1776 and 1812 of Louisiana. 

Music: “Then you’ll Remember Me’’. 
Response—Andrew J. Peters, Assistant Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, representing the President of the United States. 

27 SG ae Representing His Majesty the 

King of Britian and Ireland. 

Presentation of Gold Medals—Gasper Cusachs, President Louis- 
jana Historical Society. 

Music: ‘Hands Across The Sea’’. 

Centennial Poems—-Composed by Rixford J. Lincoln, Poet 
Laureate of Louisiana Historical Society, Read by J. Allen 
Swanson. 

Music: “It’s a Long Long Way to Tipperary.” 
Oration—‘‘Andrew Jackson,’’ Samuel M. Wilson, of Lexington, 

Ky. 

Music: “My Old Kentucky Home.” 

Address—‘‘Louisiana in the Battle of New Orleans,’ Wm. C. 
Dufour. 

Music: “Listen To The Mocking Bird.” 

Address—‘‘The Daughters of 1812,” Mrs. Williams Gerry 
Slade, National President. 


42 


658 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Music: ‘Hail Columbia.” 


Placing on Battle Monument Evergreen Wreath from trees grow- 
ing about the tomb of Andrew Jackson, by Ladies’ Hermitage 
Association, represented by Miss Louis G. Lindsley and 
Mrs. Mary C. Dorris, Past Regents. 

Music: “Ode to Tennessee.”’ 

Presentation of Memorial Urn, donated by Mrs. Martha Spotts 
Blakeman, and Draping with First Flag Which Floated Over 
Chalmette Monument by Miss Ethelyn Richardson. 

Music: ‘Home, Sweet Home.” 

Reading of Commemorative Tablet by Mrs Christian Schertz, 

Marking Important points on the Battle-field. 
Music: “Yankee Doodle.” 

Unveiling of Chalmette Monument and Raising of Unites States 
and British Flags of 1815. 

Mrs. Virginia R. Fowler, Mrs. Elizabeth Reden Hack- 
nay, Mrs. Lelia Montan Harper, Mrs. Alexander 
Keene Richards and Mrs. Felicite Gayoso Tennent, 
daughters of soldiers, who participated in the Battle 
of New Orleans, and Miss Sydney Crawford. 

Chorus: ‘‘America,”’ “(God Save The King,” and ‘International 
Hymn,” by Public School children, conducted by Miss Mary 
M. Conway and Miss Marie Norra. 

Benediction—Rev. Max Heller, of Temple Sinis, New Orleans. 


Song: “Star Spangled Banner,’ by Chorus and 
Audience. 

“Escort to the Colors’’—Repetition of Ceremonies on the 8th- 
of January for One Hundred Years by the Seventh Regiment» 
United States Infantry, which participated in the Battle of 
New Orleans. 


a. Escort to the colors. 


b. Seventh Infantry Ceremony commemorative of the Battle of . 


New Orleans. 
ec. Butt’s manual to Music, by entire regiment. 
d. Silent drill by Company G, 7th. United States Infantry. 
- Raising of ‘“‘Old Glory,’ by Miss Evelyn Pigott and Master Carl 
McCaleb. 

Salute of One Hundred Guns by Battery ‘‘B,’’ Captain James E. 
Edmunds, Washington Artillery, Louisiana National Guard. 
S300 PME 
Jackson Square. 

Finish of 63 mile race by Y. M. C. A. athletes, replacing famous 
run of Creoles from Fort St. John when called to Arms in 1814. 
Start at exact spot, Fort St. John, now called Spanish Fort, at 
EEO) Jee IL 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 659 


4:00 P. M. 
New Ursaline Convent. 
(State Street At Willow). 


Solemn Benediction........ Bao ta. Right Reverend James Hubert 
Blenk and Assistants Te Deum. Hae) Chanted by Choir, led 
by Mrs. Theresa Buckley. 
1 Veiled ele ae eae I, V. Flagler. 
President of the Ursaline Alumnae. 
Hymn to Our Lady of Prompt Succor........ ....----Chorus, Pupils of 
Convent. 
igaeige Miss Maud Martel. 
Address........ ace csalt 3 fublieel aaa ACN Nel Ml Ate ea ea Henry M. Gill. 
© PSS ok RR RE Sa ly ee --Chopin. 


(This Ursuline Convent is in State Street, and can be reached by 
taking Clio or Carondelet Street trolly cars bound (Uptown). 

7raO VE sve 

General Illumination of City. 
8:00 P. M. 
Washington Artillery Hall. 
Military Ball tendered by the Louisiana National Guard and 

Louisiana Naval Battalion to the men of the United’ States Army 
and Navy. 


8:00 P. M. 
Jackson Square. 
Military Band Concert. 
8:00 P. M. 
LaFayette Square. 
Military Band Concert. 
8:00 P. M. 
The Atheneum. 
Reception Militaire by the Woman’s Section of the Centennial 
Comittee. 
1. Historic Tableaux by Pupils of Jackson School: 

a. Interior of a New Orleans home of 1815 when the women of 

the city sewed blankets into clothes for Jackson’s men. 

b. Campfire scene along Rodriguez Canal. Dawn, just before 

the Battle of New Orleans. 

ce. A Street in New Orleans. The Victorious American Army 

welcomed home. 
(San Remo Socola, director). 
2. Period Dances (in costume). 
emavlotmernt NMisical’” 00. te i, el .... school. 
Saturday, January 9th. 
9:00 A. M. 
Military Parade. 

Route—Form at Jackson Avenue and St. Charles Avenue; 
St. Charles Avenue to Lee Circle, around to St. Charles Street; 
down St. Charles Street, past reviewing stand at City Hall, to 
Poydras Street, to Camp Street, to Canal Street, upper side of 


660 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


Canal Street to Elk Place; lower side of Canal Street, to Chartres 
Street, down Chartres Street to Jackson Square; St. Peter to 
Decatur Street, to St. Ann Street, to Royal Street; up Royal 
Street to disbanding point at Canal Street. 


FORMATION 
Chief Marshal—Major General J. Franklin Bell, U. S. A. 
Regulars of the United States Army. . 


Marines and Sailors of the United States Navy. 
Louisiana National Guard. 
Battalion of Louisiana Naval Militia. 
Battalion Washington Artillery, 
10:00 A. M. 
Jackson Square. 

Placing of wreaths on statue of Andrew Jackson by the Ladies’ 
Hermitage Association of Nashville, Tennessee, represented by 
Miss Louise G. Lindlsey and Mrs Mary C. Dorris, former regents, 
and by the United States Daughters of 1776 and 1812 of Louisiana, 
accompanied by Mrs. William Gerry Slade, president General of 
the Daughters of 1812, the first wreath being made of evergreens 
from trees areund the tomb of Andrew Jackson at Nashville, Tenn. 

10:30 A. M. 
LaFayette Square. 
Placing of wreath on Statue of Henry Clay, one of the signers 
of the treaty of Ghent, by the Kentucky Society of Louisiana. 
Noon. 
Cabildo and Battle Abbey. 
Gavotte—J. B. Lully. 
“Marcha Real.” 

The Battle Abbey—lIts history, its purpose. Sketch by T. P. 
Thompson, President of the Board of Curators of the Louisiana: 
State Museum. 

“La Marseillaise,’’ Solo, Mrs. Henry O. Bisset. 

Dedication of the Battle Abbey, by His Excellency Luther F. Hall, 
Governor of Louisiana. 

“The Star Spangled Banner.”” Solo Miss Selika Daboval. 

Greeting—By Martin Behrman, Mayor of New Orleans. 

{Dixie:; 

At the conclusion of these ceremonies, the Governor of 
Louisiana escorted by Gasper Cusachs, President of the Louisiana 
Historical Society, T. P. Thompson, President of the Board of 
Curators of the Louisiana State Museum, and members of the 
committee on Ceremonial, will proceed to the Battle Abbey which 
will then be formally opened. 

2:30 P. M. 
The Cabildo. 

Reception of the Old Supreme Court Room of the Cabildo, by 
the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of 
Louisiana, assisted by former Chief Justice Joseph A. Breaux, and 


eer 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 661 


former Associate Justice Newton C. Blanchard, Gasper Cusachs, 
President of the Louisiana Historical Society, Chairman of the 
Reception Committee. 
S00) 2s Vie 
The Cabildo. 

Presentation of the portrait of Professor Alcee Fortier, former - 
President of the Louisiana Historical Society, by the Memorial 
Committee of the Society, represented by W. O. Hart. Accept- 
ance of portrait by Henry M. Gill, on behalf of the Society. 

3): G0). 9M; 
Old Ursuline Convent. 
(Chartres and Ursuline Streets). 

Unveiling and presentation of commemorative tablet by Miss 
Grace King to the President of the Louisiana Historical Society. 

Tribute of Newcomb College to the Ursuline Convent— 
From the latest to the earliest female college of Louisiana. 

4:00 P. M. 
The Presbytere. 

Reception on old Presbytere, now part of the Louisiana State 

Museum, Sam Blum, representing the Board of Curators. 
7:30)P.)M: 
Hotel Grunewald. 

International peace banquet tendered by the Louisiana His- 
torical Society to officers of the United States, foreign govern- 
ments, Dominion of Canada, and States of the Union, and other 
distinguished guests. 

WSO ev. 
General Illuminating of City. 
8:00 P. M. 

LaFayette Square. 
Military Band Concert. 
8 00h bueMie 
Jackson Square. 
Military Band Concert. 
9:00 P. M. 
LaFayette Square. 
Fireworks Display. 


Sunday, January 10th. 
10:00 A. M. 
Jackson Square. 

Ceremonial pageant replicating the return of General Jackson 
and his troops from the Battlefield and the “Crowning of Old 
Hickory” on the identical spot where he was received in triumph 
one hundred years ago today, by Abbe Dubourg, represented by 
Right Reverend J. M. Laval. 

10:30 A. M. 
St. Louis Cathedral. 
Te Deum and Pontificial High Mass in St. Louis Cathedral 


662 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


duplicating the great service of Thanksgiving rendered after the 
triumphal return of General Andrew Jackson and his men from the 
plains of Chalmette. Patriotic discourse by Rev. Emanuel de la 
Moriniere, S. J. 
1223032. Ve 
Jackson Square. 

Civic and Fraternal Societies parade from Jackson Square to 
Jackson Avenue. The first detachment will swing into lines as the 
last bell of the Angelus is chimed from the tower of St. Louis 
Cathedral. Head Column moves 12:30 sharp. 

Route—From corner Chartres and St. Peters Streets, up 
Chartres Street to Canal Street; out Canal Street, north side to 
Basin Street, Canal Street, south side, to St. Charles Street, 
up St. Charles St. lake side, to Jackson Avenue, down St. Charles 
Avenue, river side, to Howard Avenue; Howard Avenue to Camp 
Street, down Camp Street to Canal Street, Canal Street, ‘south 
side to disbanding point at Magazine Street. 


ORATION, “‘ANDREW JACKSON”’ 
By Samuel M. Wilson, Esq., Lexington, Ky. ; 

“Mr. Chairman, United Daughters and Sons of the Revolution 
and of the War of 1812, Veterans and Descendants of Veteraus ot 
all our Wars, Venerable Survivors of the Washington Artillery, 
Members of the Louisiana Historical Society, Citizens of New 
Orleans and Guests ot this occasion, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

“From the time of the so-called Spanish Conspiracy, which 
had for its central object the maintenance of unfettered inter- 
course between the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and their Nav- 
igable water-ways, and which romantic plot cast both a glamour 
and a gloom over the early history of Kentucky, down to this good 

_day, the people of that proud commonwealth have ever gazed with 
wistful and longing eyes down the long-winding course of the Miss- 
ississippi to this Imperial Gateway of the Republic, magnificent 
New Orleans, the zenith city of the Gulf. 

“To a Kentuckian, no higher compliment, surely, could be 
paid than to be given an opportunity, on this memorable anniver- 
sary, and on this historic field, within sight of the majestic Father 
of the Waters, and under the shadow of this splendid monument, 
to speak in commemoration of the mighty commander, and the 
valiant forces who so successfully contested this ground with their 
British foes a century ago. One and all, I hasten to thank you 
for the high privilege which is mine at this hour. 

“In spite of the hasty and undeserved reflection, cast at the 
time upon a portion of the Kentucky troops, who took part in that 
decisive conflict, the world has come to know and acknowledge 
that the Kentucky Volunteers on this field were no less fearless, 
steadfast and heroic than their comrades from Tennessee, Miss- 
issippi and Louisiana, to say nothing of the hardy sea-faring sol- 
diers of fortune under Lafitte, the smuggler Sea-King of Barataria. 


SCM — 


——— = = 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 663 


No time, therefore, need be spent in vindicating the ‘Hunters of 
Kentucky’ from the charge of ‘inglorious flight,’ which, in the 
first flush of inflamed passion, with an incomplete knowledge of 
the facts and under a grievous misapprehension, was flung at them 
by the Commanding General, in his first report of the battle. 

To the enduring credit of the lion-hearted and magnanimous 
chieftain, be it said, that, in time, he himself was made to realize 
and openly confess the grave error and injustice which had been 
done. ‘This,’ says Colonel Colyar, ‘is about the only thing Gen- 
eral Jackson ever took back.’ For this honorable amends, you will 
permit me here and now, to record my unfeigned gratification. 
It is gratifying not to me alone but to all who prize the good name 
of my native state, and the reputation for grit and courage earned 
by her valiant sons on a thousand battlefields. Amends any less 
complete, whole-hearted and honorable than were finally made 
by General Jackson, could hardly have been pleasing to the com- 
patriots of Clay, Shelby, Johnson and Adair. 

“And yet, aware as I am of a certain trepidation inspired by 
this large and distinguished audience, by the sacred soil on which 
we are gathered and the immortal memories which throng about 
us, | can better understand and make allowances for the symptoms 
of panic, into which the raw recruits from Kentucky were betrayed, 
as they stood at bay, in a strange and almost defenseless position, 
on yonder side of the Great River, and grimly faced the onset, in 
awe-inspiring numbers, of seasoned British veterans, fresh from 
the ensanguined fields of war-torn Europe. 

“Tt would ill become me, on this occasion and within the brief 
time-limit at my disposal, to attempt a full-length, life-size por- 
trait of Andrew Jackson, or a chronological account of his career. 
The life and achievements of a man, whose life was so full of a- 
chievements, and so pervasive and potent in its influence, can not 
even superficially be compassed within the space of half an hour, 
and thankless, indeed, would be the task should I essay to perform 
it. Born in the Waxhaw District, on the border of the Carolinas, 
on the 15th. day of March, 1767, and dying at his historic home, 
the ‘Hermitage’, near the city of Nashville, on the 8th. of June, 
1845, there was comprehended within the seventy-eight years, 
which filled the gap between these dates, more of human accom- 
plishment than is commonly vouchsafed to the lot of mortal man 
and more, by far, than could be condensed into a talk suited to 
this place and occasion. 

“TJ may take time, however, to remind you that he was the 
first representative in Congress from Tennessee, upon its admission 
into the Union on June 1, 1796, and it was during his short term of 
service in Congress, at this time, that he formed the acquaintance 
and friendship of Edward Livingston, one of the most accomplished 
meu of his time, then a Congressman from New York, and after- 
wards a leading public citizen of your own State of Louisiana. This 
attachment was ardent and life-long, and remained unbroken for 


664 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


a period of fifty years. I take time to say further that, in my 
opinion, there was no man in America, who during General Jack- 
son’s public career, exerted a more important or more beneficent 
influence upon his mind and upon his public and private life, than 
did. this distinguished statesman and adopted but devoted son of 
Louisiana. 

“While high honors in the civil service of his State and of the 
Nation came to him with surprising frequency, often from unex- 
pected sources and nearly always unsought, he seems, in the early 
years of his manhood, to have put comparatively little store by 
these honors. His predominant tastes and talents were unmis- 
takably military, yet, until the outbreak of the War of 1812, there 
was no real outlet for Jackson’s military ardor, no real opportunity 
for his military genius to assert itself. So inconspicuous, apparent- 
ly, had become his simple life, in the primitive wilds of Tennessee, 
that the statement must pass unchallenged that at the age of 
forty-five he had commenced no career. The outbreak of the 
second war with England, however, furnished the long-deferred 
opportunity and offered him an arena upon which to make a bril- 
liant and effective display of his superior gifts as a military officer. 

“Hardly had the declaration of war been made, on the 18th of 
June, 1812, before Jackson volunteered his services to the National 
Government and offered to raise a force of 2,500 Tennesseans, to 
be placed at the immediate disposal of the Department of War. 
His prompt and patriotic offer was eagerly accepted and he and 
his men were ordered to move towards New Orleans. No sooner 
said than done. But, on the arrival of Jackson and his hardy 
volunteers at Natchez, their appointed rendezvous on the Mississ- 
ippi, the Government concluded that there would be little or no 
need of American troops for either defense or conquest, in this 
vicinity, and the order was recalled. One can better imagine than 
describe the bitter disappointment suffered by Jackson and his 
followers, in consequence of this change of plan. Yet despite the 
fact that he was forced to lead his men back to their Tennessee 
homes, his conduct upon this fruitless campaign was such as to 
win the lasting attachment and regard of every single one of his 
comrades-in-arms. 

“Fortunately for his future, however, it was not long before 
the need of the South for protection, not only against the British 
red-coats, but also of stern, repressive measures against the dread- 
ed ‘Red Sticks’ of Alabama, Georgia and the Mississippi Territory, 
became plainly apparent. The massacre at Fort Mims, at the 
junction of the Alabama and ‘Tombigbee Rivers, in the late summer 
of 1813, when only five or six of the 553 persons in the Fort escaped 
slaughter, furnished the long-coveted occasion for an exhibition of 
Jackson’s extraordinary capacity and vigor as a victorious com- 
mander in the field. Rallying a large force, he swept through the 
country, infested by the hostile Creeks, with a vigor and velocity 
which defy description. ‘This Creek campaign lasted only seven 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 665 


months, and, considered merely as an Indian war, it was not of trans- 
cendent importance, but, nevertheless, it stamped Jackson as a pre- 
eminent soldier, it marked the beginning of his fame and popularity, 
and, from it, date his subsequent prestige and power. His crush- 
ing defeat of the Creeks at Tohopeka or the Horse Shoe Bend has 
been called a ‘tactical master-piece’ and the outcome of this 
desperate battle was second in importance only to the overthrow 
of Pakenham’s army here at New Orleans. ‘Within a few days,’ 
he observed to his brave array of citizen soldiers, at the close of 
the war, ‘you have annihilated the power of a nation, that for 
twenty years has been the disturber of your peace.’ 

“In the month of May, 1814, he was appointed a Major Gener- 
al in the army of the United States to succeed William Henry 
Harrison, who had resigned, shortl} after his decisive victory at 
the Thames, and was given command of the Seventh Military 
District, constituting the Department of the South. In August 
and September, 1814, he established his headquarters at Mobile, 
in what was then known as West Florida. He naturally wanted 
to attack the enemy wherever he might find him, and fiercely 
resented the fact that Spain, nominally a neutral, and at that 
time the sovereign of Florida, should allow England to use Florida, 
or any of its ports, as a base of operations. Hence, in Jackson’s - 


’ view, Mobile must be held, and Pensacola captured or destroyed. 


To perceive how effectually this was done, one needs but to turn 
to the thrilling story of Jackson’s first Florida campaign. 

“Still adhering to his aggressive programme, with systematic 
and relentless perseverence, Jackson, on the 2nd of December, 
teached New Orleans, where he instinctively expected the next 
blow to fall. Everything in New Orleans was apparently in con- 
sternation and chaos. There was no arms or supplies, and no 
adequate preparations for defense had been begun, much less 
completed. His old friend, Edward Livingston, a leader of the 
New Orleans bar, whose allegiance had been transferred from his 
native State of New York to the new commonwealth of Louisiana, 
was, in this emergency, of invaluable aid to him. But there able 
and patriotic Americans were not the only ones who, under the 
pressure of the grave crisis, demonstrated their loyalty and zeal 
in the cause of America. Of the men able to bear arms in New 
Orleans in 1814 and 1815, says a recent historian of your State 
there were only about three hundred of Anglo-Saxon race, out of 
a total population of about eighteen thousand souls. 

“T should consider myself remiss if I let the opportunity pass 
without paying tribute to the admirable and exemplary behavior 
of the Louisianians of French Origin who, at this supreme crisis, 
rallied to the defense of the American colors. It is but simple 
justice to say that these men were every whit as patriotic and as 
loyal to the Union as were the men of Tennessee and Kentucky. 

“Jackson’s able chief of engineers, Latour, has described for 
us, in vivid and impressive terms, his inexhaustible and resistless 


666 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


energy, and its wholesome effect upon all who came within the 
circle of his influence. The energy manifested by General Jackson, 
says Latour, ‘spread, as it were, by contagion, and communicated 
itself to the whole army. There was nothing which those who 
composed it did not feel themselves capable of performing, if he 
ordered it to be done. It was enough if he expressed a wish or 
threw out the slighest intimation and immediately a crowd of 
volunteers offered themselves to carry his views into execution.’ 
Such was the man, imperious, impetuous, masterful, and passion- 
ate, the very incarnation of the buoyant, aggressive and indomitable 
spirit of the early West. 

“The most important of the preliminary engagements which 
fore-shadowed the decisive action of the 8th of January, was the 
battle of Villere’s Plantation, which occurred on the night of Dec. 
23rd. Give me leave, in passing, to say that the Seventh United 
States Infantry, which took a leading part in this important 
battle, was composed almost exclusively of Kentuckians, and, 
with pleasure, I add, that their commander, in this decisive affair, 
was Major Peire, of Louisiana. 

“General John Watts de Peyster, one of the ablest military 
critics our country has produced, has left upon record the opinion 
that General Jackson really saved New Orleans by his night attack 
of December 23rd, because this daring slap on the face made the © 
British over-rate Jackson’s strength. Instead of forcing the 
fighting, they became over-cautious afterwards, and thereby 
time was gained, which to Jackson, short of men and without 
defenses, was of priceless value. 

“Doctor Fortier, in his well-written history, has also said: 
‘The battle of December 23rd, was very important, and Jackson’s 
impetuosity probably saved New Orleans, which might not have 
resisted a sudden attack.’ 

““ “Never was there a bolder conception,’ declared Judge Alex- 
ander Walker, ‘never was there one which indicated greater cour- 
age and resolution. Here was a master-stroke of a native military 
genius.’ 

“The same view is also expressed by George Robert Gleig, 
author of the ‘The Subaltern in America,’ and by Captain John 
Watts, both of the British army, and both participants in the New 
Orleans campaign. ‘The truth is that Jackson, without knowing 
it, was enforcing the pregnant maxim of Napoleon, that an inferior 
force should never wait to be attacked, and, to his sturdy adversary, 
he fearlessly applied the principles that, in war-fare, he who dallies 
or hesitates is lost. 

“On the 4th of January, 1815, the long-delayed Kentucky 
Militia, twenty-two hundred and fifty strong, under the command 
of Brigadier-General John Adair (General Thomas having been 
incapacitated by illness), reached New Orleans, but, through no 
fault of theirs, these men came only partially provided with arms 
and amunition. Out of this reinforcement, only about a thou- 


MARBLE BUST OF GOV. ISAAC SHELBY. 


Presented to Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, D. C., April 18, 1911, by Mrs. Mary Shelby Wilson 
of Lexington, Kentucky, a great-grand-daughter of Governor Shelby, on behalf of the Daughters of Ameri- 
can Revolution of Kentucky. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HIsToRY 667 


sand were found sufficiently equipped or could hastily be armed 
for service, and these were marched at once tothe firing-line, on the 
plains of Chalmette. The Kentuckians whom Jackson denounced 
for their inglorious flight, and who, as Parton has it, by this one 
act of hasty injustice, were thenceforth immortalized, were posted 
across the river under General David B. Morgan, but, all told, did 
not exceed one hundred and seventy in number, and they were not 
placed in position across the river until early on the morning of 
January 8th, on the very eve of the fateful battle. Opposed to 
General Morgan and his ill-assorted, undisciplined and untried 
militia, was a strong British force under Colonel Thornton, who, 
Brady and Buell both declare, was the ablest English soldier pres- 
ent. Out-numbered, out-maneuvered, and overmatched, the 
Americans under Patterson and Morgan were soon forced to aban- 
don their ill-chosen and untenable position. 

“At dawn on Sunday, January 8th, the solid columns of the 
British army advanced toward the American line for a grand as- 
sault. Once wellwithinrange, the Americans opened upon them with 
a deadly fire of cannon and musketry, and the execution of the 
rifleman, concealed behind the breastworks, which extended al- 
most straight across these plains from the river on the west to the 
swamps on the east, was so terrific, the havoc so frightful, as to 
compel the attacking columns to retire. Again and yet again did 
the veteran regiments of the British army return to the attack, 
but all in vain, in less than an hour they were completely over- 
whelmed, and retired in disorder, leaving more than two thousand 
in dead, wounded, and prisoners on the field. The rattle of mus- 
ketry and the booming of cannon across this hard-fought field had 
ceased by half-past eight in the morning, and naught denoting 
‘conflict was to be heard save the groans and outcries of the wound- 
ed and dying. The British fought with the greatest bravery, 
says Fortier, but had been met with equal bravery by men who were 
defending their country, and who displayed that wonderful skill 
in handling fire-arms, for which Americans, especially the pioneers 
and frontiersmen, have always been noted. ‘The total loss of the 
British, on both sides of the river, was 2,036, or, in the final ag- 
gregate, possibly a thousand more, while that of the Americans 
at the highest estimate, was only seventy-one. According to the 
British returns, the grand total of their killed and wounded was 
3,326. Fourteen thousand British veterans had been repulsed 
by five thousand American volunteers; Jackson’s ‘backwoods 
rabble’ had beaten the best of Europe’s regulars. Such another 
victory, so cheaply bought, is not recorded in the war-time annals 
of civilized man. 

‘The discomfiture and rout of the British, on this side of the 
river, were, to a degree, counter-balanced and jeopardized, how- 
ever, by the repulse suffered by the American troops on the west 
bank. For this misadventure Jackson himself must bear part of 
‘the blame. ‘Responsibility for the disaster on the west bank,’ 


668 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


says Professor John Spencer Bassett, ‘rests on Morgan and Pat- 
terson, who adopted an impossible line of defense, and on Jackson, 
who was ignorant of the conditions there, and who failed to send 
troops enough to hold it.’ His failure strongly to fortify and 
hold that point under a competent commander, says Brady, ‘is 
the one military mistake that he made.’ But through the prompt 
and judicious handling of the situation by Jackson, with his 
‘swift, intuitive perception of the way to act in emergencies,’ the 
victory, which so narrowly escaped being turned into a defeat, or 
merely a drawn battle, barren of results, was made sure. 


“In spite of the seeming misbehavior, under very trying and 
untoward circumstances, of the handful of Kentucky soldiers on 
the far bank of the Mississippi, which excited General Jackson’s 
wrathful displeasure, in a special address to the men of General 
Morgan’s command, delivered shortly after this lost ground had 
been recovered, as well as in a General Order to the entire body of 
the American troops, issued two weeks after the battle, in praise 
of their valor, the commander-in-chief did not withhold full credit 
from those to whom credit was justly due and made full atone- 
ment for the unsparing severity of his earlier censure. 

‘To the troops defending the opposite bank of the Mississippi, 
he said: 


‘To what cause was the abandonment of your lines owing? 
To fear? No! You are the country-men, the friends, the 
brothers of those who have secured to themselves, by their 
courage, the gratitude of their country; who have been prodigal 
of their blood in its defense, and who are strangers to any other 
fear than disgrace.***How then could brave men, firm in the 
cause in which they are enrolled, neglect their first duty, and 
abandon the post committed to their care? The want of dis- 
cipline, the want of order, a total disregard to obedience, and a 
spirit of insubordination, not less destructive than cowardice 
itself, are the causes that led to this disaster, and they must be 
eradicated, or I must cease to command. *** ‘The brave man, 
inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than 
the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.’ 


To the troops marshalled here and hereabouts, under his own 
immediate command, he said: 


““ “A rampart of high-minded men is a better defense than the 
most regular fortifications. General Adair, who brought up 
the Kentucky Militia, has shown that troops will always be 
valiant when their leaders are so. No men ever displayed a 
more gallant spirit than these who did under that most inval- 
uable officer. His country is under obligations to him.’ 

‘The disastrous outcome of the battle fought here one hun- 


dred years ago, was, perhaps, the greatest shock that the pride of 
Great Britian had ever received, and her mortification was not 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 669 


lessened by the rough chastisement which had been inflicted upon 
her warships and merchant-men alike by our small but’ gallant 
navy on the seas. 

“William Cobbett, an English essayist, better known in Amer- 
ica under his pen neme of ‘Peter Porcupine,’ who, late in life, 
became a member of Parliment, and one of the numerous biograp- 
ers of General Jackson, said of the bloody death-grapple on the 
Plains of Chalmette: 

“ “This battle of New Orleans broke the heart of European 
despotism. The man who won it, did, in that one act, more 
for the good and the honor of the human race than was ever 
done by any other man.’ 

Cyrus Townsend Brady has said: 

“ “The popular idea is that the battle of New Orleans, having 
been fought after peace was declared, was a perfectly useless 
slaughter of no value in determining the issue of the war. So 
far from being a useless slaughter, this battle was the most im- 
portant and decisive fought on this continent between York- 
town and Gettysburg. Andrew Jackson contributed to the 
future of his country in a degree only surpassed by Washington, 
who founded it, and by Lincoln, who preserved it. For to 
Andrew Jackson is due the vital fact that the western boundary 
of the United States is the Pacific, and not the Mississippi.’ 

“Colonel Augustus C. Buell, in his unrivaled ‘History of 
Andrew Jackson,’ was the first to demonstrate this momentous 
fact. As he has conclusively shown, the staggering blow dealt the 
British here made the Treaty of Ghent a reality. It saved Louis- 
iana and set the seal of permanence and inviolability upon Jeffer- 
son’s purchase of that vast imperial domain. 

“Throughout the Union, the victory of New Orleans was the 
cause of boundless delight, more especially because the news of it 
reached the country at large at just about the same time as the 
news of peace, and there was no fear for the future to mar the ex- 
ultation inspired by this signal triumph. For his countrymen, 
the victor had won ‘something dearer than anything set forth in 
treaties. He had revived and invigorated the national self- ' 
respect. It is not hard, therefore, to understand how, forgetting 
its failures and its disappointments, Americans all dare to speak 
of the War of 1812, with complacency and pride; for, effacing 
every trace of previous disaster and blotting out the forlorn hopes 
and dark forebodings of that ominous January morning, when it 
seemed as if this ‘fair Creole city’ was already in Pakenham’s 
grasp, there rises resplendent before his admiring countrymen the 
thin tall figure of a grim-visaged horseman, standing beside an 
embrasure of the Chalmette breastworks and peering out beneath 
the uplifted veil of mingled smoke and fog over the ghastly heaps 
of British dead—a vision of defeat and victory not to be surpassed 
even by that of Wellington at Waterloo! 

“Jackson, from the beginning, had been the soul of the defense 


670 ANDREW JACKSON AND EarLy TENNESSEE History 


in the southwest, and to his energy, intrepidity and perseverance 
success was due. In the short space of fifteen months, between 
September, 1813, and January, 1815, he had passed, says Professor 
Sumner, ‘from the status of an obscure Tennessee planter to that 
of the most distinguished and popular man in the country.’ — 

“In spite of the heavy fine imposed upon him by Judge Hall, 
for his alleged contempt of the Federal Court of this District, to 
which oppressive penalty, with rare dignity and a most commend- 
able law-abiding deference, Jackson obediently submitted. New 
Orleans has shown itself neither ungrateful for Jackson’s timely 
and inestimable services, nor unmindful of his crowning success. 
You need not, of course, be told of the solemn service of thanks- 
giving and praise held in the ancient Saint Louis Cathedral, just 
two weeks after the battle, and the crowning there of the return- 
ing conqueror with a wreath of laurel, ‘the prize of victory, the 
symbol of immortality,’ as the venerable prelate, Abbe Dubourg, 
described it. In Jackson Square and in the magnificent eques- 
trian statue, which adorns its central spaces, quite as much as in 
the hearts of the people of this mighty metropolis, have the sons 
of Louisiana recorded their profound admiration and their abiding 
love for the pre-eminent hero of our second War for Independence. 
Of a truth, may it be affirmed of him, in the language of a worthy 
divine of this wondrous city, whose greatness and glory will be 
forever associated with his name—‘His epitaph is his country’s 
history; his cenotaph, the hearts of his countrymen.’ 

‘Jackson,’ says Mr. Roosevelt, in his Naval War of 1812, 
“4s certainly by all odds the most prominent figure that appears 
during this war, and he stands head and shoulders above any 
other commander, either American or British, that it produced. 
It will be difficult, in all history, to show a parallel to the feat 
that he performed. Moreover, it must be remembered that 
Jackson’s success was in nowise due either to chance or to the 
errors of his adversary. Of course, Jackson owed much to the 
nature of the ground on which he fought, but the opportunity 
it afforded would have been useless in the hands of any General 
less ready, hardy and skillful than ‘Old Hickory.’ The Amer~ 
ican soldiers deserve great credit for doing so well, but greater 
credit still belongs to Andrew Jackson, who, with his cool head 
and clear eyes, his stout heart and strong hand, stands out in 
history as the ablest General the United States produced from 
the outbreak of the Revolution down to the beginning of the 
great rebellion.’ 

“‘Jackson’s Seminole Campaign, in 1817-1818, lasted only five 
months, but in that brief space of time he had broken the Indian 
power, established peace on the troubled border, and practically 
conquered Florida. ‘This five months and the eighteen months of 
service from 1813 to 1815, is all the actual warfare he ever saw. 
The Seminole War was, in itself, one of the least significant of our 
_ Indian Campaigns, but in its relations and effects, it was like the 


Se eee 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 671 


Creek War before it, one of the most important and far-reaching 
events in our history. For Jackson, it made certain and perma- 
nent the reputation and influence he had acquired by his successes 
against the British here at New Orleans. To Jackson, above all 
others, belongs the credit of bringing Spain to terms and to him 
we owe the ultimate acquisition of the Floridas. Abstract and 
argumentative claims of his government were by him translated 
into action and he gained, in consequence, a high place among the 
heroes of American expansion. 

“By a most uncommon course of development, the Hero of 
New Orleans, passed, in a short while, from the field of war to the 
field of national politics. Given a plurality of both the popular 
and electoral vote for the Presidency, in 1824, but defeated, in the 
House of Representatives, by John Quincy Adams, Jackson, in 
1828, turned the tables and was elected President, defeating 
Adams by an unprecedented majority, and was re-elected for a 
second term in 1832, defeating Henry Clay by a like spectacular 
majority. 

“But little can be said, in the time that remains, respecting 
his political record. Public questions of the most vital importance 
were before the country during both his first and second admin- 
istrations. Of all of these questions Jackson’s views were clearly 
defined and emphatically expressed. He was not always right, 
but there is no doubt that he always believed himself right, in the 
views he entertained and, for the most part, carried into execution. 
Yet respecting the quality of his statesmanship, no less a person 
than John Fiske has said: 

*“While he was not versed in the history and philosophy of 
government, it is far from correct to say that there was nothing 
of the statesman about him. On the contrary, it may be main- 
tained that in nearly all of his most important acts, except those 
that dealt with the civil service, Jackson was right.’ 

“The outstanding events of his two terms were those involving 
the Tariff, Nullification and the Bank of the United States. 
Second in importance only to these were the reshaping of our ior- 
eign Relations, Segregation of the Indians, and devising consti- 
tutional ways and means for promoting Internal Improvements. 


“Someone has said that we might as well expect to free our- 
selves from the pressure of the atmosphere as to abolish the money 
power. Some kind of a National Banking System is indispensable, 
and this fact was recogonized and admitted by Jackson, but im- 
partial investigation and later historical criticism have done much 
to produce the conviction that, in his attitude towards the Bank 
of the United States, and in his dealings with that institution, 
Jackson was essentially right. The National Bank of 1832 had 
unquestionably become a menace. 

“The “Tariff of Abominations’ of 1828 was displaced by the 
Compromise Tariff of 1832, which was a significant, though only 


672 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


partial, victory for the Democratic theory that tariffs should be 
framed primarily for revenue and only secondarily and incident- 
ally, and always within reasonable limits, for protection. 

“The country can never thank Jackson enough for the firm and 
effective manner in which he faced and quelled the rising spirit 
of disunion concealed in the Nullification proceedings of his native 
State of South Carolina. Today, at the distance of a full half 
century from Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, we can all join with 
Jackson in his memorable toast, given at a public dinner in the 
city of Washington, in 1830: 

‘““ “The Federal Union— it must and shall be preserved!’ 

“This sentiment, thank God, is virtually unanimous today, but 
when Jackson first uttered it, it took more than ordinary inde- 
pendence, nerve and courage, for a Southern man frankly to avow 
such a thought. 

“With the lapse of time, we have come more and more to un- 
derstand that the purpose of those who framed the Federal Con- 
stitution was to restrain and regulate, rather than to establish 
or extend, democracy. Whether, in its origin, it contemplated 
merely a loose league or confederation or an indissoluble union of 
States, it was pre-eminently a system of checks and balances, 
guarding, on the one hand, against the perils of populistic predom- 
inance quite as much as, on the other, against the evils of central- 
ized power. While Jackson was always firm and unswerving in 
his fidelity to the Union, he was also a consistent advocate of in- 
dividual liberty, and a stalwart champion of the reserved rights 
of the States. In the practical administration of affairs, he came 
as near to harmonizing Federal sovereignty with States’ rights, as 
it was possible to do so, during the generation in which he lived. 
Jackson was the living embodiment, the veritable incarnation 
and personification of the spirit of genuine democracy. With 
him, the rule of the people was not a mere abstract theory or spe- 
cious dogma, with which to decoy the imagination or to amuse the 
voters at election time, but was a living, breathing, vital truth, to 
be carried into every-day practice; and, however misdirected at 
times, the end and aim of all his efforts was to confirm to his 
fellow-countrymen the essential democracy of the constitution. 

“With Chief Justice Marshall on the Supreme Bench, 
breathing the breath of life into the Constitution, and moulding 
and shaping the Federal System, organized thereunder, into a 
compact, coherent and self-sustaining whole, it was most fortunate 
that there should have been at the helm of the government, as 
Chief Executive of the Nation, a man of Jackson’s calibre, with his 
centrifugal’ temperament and tendencies, for each thereby fur- 
nished an indispensable and salutary balance-wheel to the other. 
The divergence between the two men was in nothing more strik- 
ingly exhibited than in their discordant dealings with the memor- 
able clash between the Cherokee Nation and the State of Georgia. 
For once the authority of the Supreme Court was flouted. ‘John 


~~ 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 673 


Marshall,’ said Jackson, in a remark which one can scarcely regard 
as apocryphal, ‘John Marshall has made his decision; now let 
him enforce it!’ Yet how plainly were these giants of one mind 
in the portentous collision with South Carolina, that superlative 
crisis of the ante-bellum South! 

“Under no other administration has the country ever been 
favored with State papers of greater weight or importance, or 
more vigorously phrased, than during the administrations of this 
towering Titan of Tennessee. The fact is well known that the 


composition of these papers, was seldom, or never, directly trace- 


able to the President, but while the language, or phraseology, may 
oftentimes have been that of another, the thoughts and principles 
and spirit were invariably and unmistakably those of Jackson 
himself. If time sufficed, it would give me infinite pleasure to 
read from these public utterances of General Jackson, to illustrate 
his character as a statesman, his animating impulses as a man, 
his predominant traits as typical exponent and exemplar of de- 
mocracy, but that must be left for greater leisure than the present 
occasion affords. 

“In common acceptation, Jefferson and Jackson are fequently 
joined as the leading representatives and expositors of democracy, 
but judged by the modern alignment of political parties and the 
progressive spirit of democracy now prevalent, Jackson may fairly 
be regarded as more nearly the arch-type and founder of present- 
day democracy and the party organized and dominant in the 
United States under that name, than his illustrious forerunner, 
Thomas Jefferson. It is not, perhaps, too much to say that 
Jacksonian Democracy, as it came to be known, was a plant of 
enduring growth, and that it still survives and flourishes among 
us. And, saying it with all reverence, may we not voice the hope 
that the leaves of this century plant may yet prove to be ‘for the 
healing of the nations.’ If the dead are cognizant of what con- 
cerns the living, it can not but gladden the soul of the mighty 
warrior, who triumphed on this field, to know that this Centennial 
of his great victory is celebrated under a Democratic administra- 
tion and that we have today as true a democrat as Jackson him- 
self, on duty in the White House. 

“This celebration of a notable victory by one branch of the 
Anglo-American race over another, is also the occasion for the 
commemoration of a century of peace which, ever since the noise 
of battle on this field died away, has been maintained unbroken 
between the United States and the British Empire. Nearly a 
decade has passed since a profound student of American history 
declared: ‘If there be an American ideal of the relations of this 
country with the outer world, it is that of peace, founded on mu- 
tual understanding and mutual respect.’ Jackson himself, in 
his First Annual Message to Congress, used these weighty words: 

‘““ ‘With Great Britian, alike distinguished in peace and war, 
we may look forward to years ‘of peaceful, honorable, and ele- 


43 


674 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


vated competition. Everything in the condition and history 
of the two nations is calculated to inspire sentiments of mutual 
respect and to carry conviction to the minds of both that it is 
their policy to preserve the most cordial relations.’ 

‘““When one speaks of the hundred years of peace between the 
United States and the British Empire, he, of course, does not 
mean that this has been a century of unclouded serenity or un- 
ruffled brotherly love. It is not too much to say that more than 
once have the two countries been on the very verge of war, and 
there have been times, not a few, as in the Oregon controversy 
and the Trent affair, when an open rupture of amicable relations 
was averted by little more than a hair’s breadth. 

‘The Treaty of Ghent, which signalized the close of the War 
of 1812, is important as marking the commencement and, in a 
large sense, as constituting the foundations of the hundred years 
of peace which thenceforward ensued. At the end of the century, 
the two facts next in importance to the Treaty itself are, first, the 
fact that somehow or other the United States and Great Britian 
have managed to adjust their differences by negotiation, arbitra- 
tion and diplomacy instead of by resort to the arbitrament of war; 
and, secondly, the concrete, incontestable and crowning fact that 
two great nations of the world, two world-powers, if you please, 
touching each other at many points of contact and coming into 
close and constantly-increasing competition, have actually main- 
tained peaceful relations with each other for a full hundred years. 

“Concerning the more important celebration of this century 
of peace which, in common with all here assembled, I pray may be 
renewed with each recurring century, I take leave to remind you 
how its value and significance have been emphasized by leading 
public men of Great Britian. On this subject, The Right Hon- 
ourable Viscount Bryce (whom we are tempted still to call plain 
Mr. Bryce), has spoken both feelingly and to the point. In Sep- 
tember last he said: 

‘““ “To those who are saddened by the calamities which the 
year 1914 has brought upon Europe, it is a consoling thought 
that the century of peace which has raised the English-speaking 
peoples from forty millions to one hundred and sixty millions, 
has created among those peoples a sense of kindliness and good 
will which was never seen before, and which is the surest pledge 
of their future prosperity and progress as well as of the main- 
tenance of a perpetual friendship between them.’ 

‘One of the surest guaranties of peace,’ adds the distin- 
guished author of the ‘American Common-wealth,’ ‘has been 
the fact that neither of these great nations has ever questioned 
the sancity of treaties, or denied that States are bound by moral 
law.’ 

“In recent years, another British statesman, Mr. Balfour, 
giving implied approval to the Monroe Doctrine, has said: 

“The time may come—nay, the time must come—when 


ie eee 


ANDREW JACKSON AND Early TENNESSEE History 675 


some statesman of authority, more fortunate even than President 
Monroe, will lay down the doctrine that between English-speak- 
ing peoples war is impossible.’ 


“A little more than ayear ago, at the celebration at Put-in-Bay” 
Ohio, of the Centennial of Perry’s superb victory on Lake Erie, 
Doctor James A. McDonald, of Toronto, a foremost representative 
of the intelligent thought and temper of our Canadian brothers 
on the North, used these impressive words: 


“In the light of the hundred years through which we of today 
read the story of that one battle and of that whole war, the les- 
son, the supreme and abiding lesson, for the United States and 
for Canada, is this: the utter futility and inconsequence of 
war as a means for the just settlement of disputes between these 
two nations. That lesson we both have learned. That was 
our last war. It will remain our last. Never again will the 
armed.troops of the United States and Canada meet, except 
in friendly review, or, if the day ever comes, to stand side by 
side and shoulder to shoulder in the Armageddon of the nations. 
Witness these great lakes for nigh a hundred years swept clean 
of every battleship, and this trans-continental boundary line 
for four thousand miles undefended save by the civilized in- 
stincts and the intelligent good will of both nations. And hav- 
ing learned that great lesson, having proved its worth through 
a hundred years, the United States and Canada, these two 
English-speaking peoples of America, have earned the right to 
stand up and teach the nations. International peace and good 
will is America’s message to all the world.’ 


“That message spoken by two voices, one from the United 
States, the other from Canada, is one message. It is America’s 
message that on this continent, between two proud peoples, the 
barbarism of brute force has long yielded to civilized international- 
ism. It is the assurance that Canada’s national standing on this 
continent binds the British Empire and the American Republic 
in one world-spanning, English-speaking fraternity. On all 
continents and on all seas, the power of America is the combined 
power of the United States and Canada, plus the power of Great 
Britian and ofthe British dominions in the South Atlantic and 
beyond the Pacific. These all are bound together, each with all 
the others, for the maintenance of that principle of nationhood— 
any people that desires to be free and is fit to be free ought to be 
free and must be free. That principle means peace and freedom 
in the English-speaking world. 


“At this place, and on this day, our deepest concern is not 
with the wars of the past, but with the peace of the future; not 
with the triumphs or the defeats of yesterday, but with the re- 
sponsibilities and obligations of tomorrow; not with the glory 
that either Nation achieved a hundred years ago, but with the 


676 ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HisToRY 


message which both nations, speaking in the name of our common 
North American civilization, shall give to the world through the 
hundred years to come. 

“These pledges of the past are sure auguries for the future, 
and, rejoicing as we do today, that, under Divine Providence, the 
War of 1812, on the land as well as upon the sea, should have ended 
in a blaze of military glory for our beloved country, we may, none 
the less heartily, felicitate ourselves that the glories of that mighty 
conflict marked the commencement of a millennium of unbroken 
peace among all English-speaking nations, and let us hope among 
all peoples and kindreds and tongues of the earth who, like the 
English and their American cousins, have learned the secret and 
mastered the problem of self-government. 

‘“‘ ‘Sovereignty’, said the mighty Bismark, ‘can only be a unit 
and it must remain a unit—the sovereignty of law.’ Rightly 
interpreted, the sovereignty of the people means the sovereignty 
of the law. When the law is regnant, the people reign. It was 
not so much for mere selfish independence, but for this priceless 
boon, the right of local self-government, for popular sovereignty, 
under enlightened rules of law, that the War of the Revolution 
was fought; and toward this ultimate goal of progressive democracy 
and of. Anglo-American civilization, every subsequent war of our 
history has inevitably tended. 

“To that highest consummation, the establishment and per- 
petuation of government by discussion rather than of ‘government 
by convulsion,’ Andrew Jackson, a ‘man of blood and iron’ ex- 
celling any German Prince, contributed as much, or more, than 
any other American during the hundred years just ended. What- 
ever difference of opinion there may be as to his treatment of 
domestic affairs, no other President ever enforced a more vigorous 
foreign policy, and the key to it all, in Jackson’s own words, was 
this: ‘It is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly 
right and to submit to nothing that is wrong.’ He it was who 
first inaugurated ‘shirt-sleeve’ diplomacy, as distinguished from 
‘dollar diplomacy’ or the diplomacy of deceit, and this down- 
right, straightforward, and outspoken mode of dealing with inter- 
national relations, has, with but a few lapses, served our country 
acceptably for well on to a century. Patriotism in its highest 
purity and perfection was, with Jackson, a natural endowment. 
From the day, in early boyhood, when he resented the insult of a 
domineering British soldier, until that day, at the Hermitage, 
three-score years later, he affixed his signature to his last will, 
‘there is absolutely no reason to believe that Andrew Jackson 
ever looked upon an enemy of his country otherwise than as his 
own mortalfoe.’ ‘Ithank God’, said the veteran soldier and states- 
man most truly and touchingly, in his Farewell Address, ‘that my 
life has been spent in a land of liberty and that He has given me a 
heart to love my country with the affection of a son.’ 

“Greatness is primarily a matter of character, but the world 


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ISAAC SHELBY, 1750-1826. 


First Governor of Kentucky, and, with John Sevier, organizer of the Expedition that fou 


ght the Battle of King’s 


See Vol. | of this work pages 373-4, 


Mountain. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 677 


measures it usually by results. By both tests General Jackson 
was undeniably one of the very greatest of our great men. Yet, 
in any just appraisement of his career and achievements, we may 
not overlook how deeply he was indebted to men like Coffee, 
Carroll, Claiborne, Crockett and Houston, his dauntless lieuten- 
ants on the field of battle, and to men like Livingston, Lewis, 
Eaton, Grundy, Barry, Blair and Benton, his invaluable aides and 
loyal supporters in the legislative, diplomatic and cabinet con- 
tests with which his pathway in politics was continually beset. 
Bearing in mind this outside aid and how far it went to insure 
success and to fortify his fame, I should be loath to close without 
attempting, through the medium of two or three impartial and 
discriminating tributes, to set before you some luminous glimpses 
of his extraordinary character and the secret of his enduring re- 
nown. ‘ 
“General Jackson’, says President Wilson, from whose History 
of the American People I take these short, deft strokes, ‘had been 
' bred by the rough processes of the frontier; had been his own 
schoolmaster and tutor; had made himself: a lawyer by putting 
his untaught sagacity and sense of right, to the test in the actual 
conduct of suits in court, as he had made himself a soldier by tak- 
ing the field in command of frontier volunteers as unschooled as 
himself in discipline and tactics. There was no touch of the char- 
latan or the demagogue about him. The action of his mind was 
as direct, as sincere, as unsophisticated as the action of the mind 
of an ingenuous child, though it exhibited also the sustained in- 
tensity and the range of the mature man. **** It had needed 
such a striking personality as this to bring parties to a head. 
They took form rapidly enough when he came upon the field. The 
men of the masses had become the stuff of politics. These men 
Jackson really represented, albeit with a touch of the Knight 
and chivalrous man of honor about him, which common men do 
not have; and the people knew it; felt that an aristocratic order 
was upset, and that they themselves had at last come to their 
own. It was a second democratization of the government. **** 
With all the intensity of his nature, General Jackson wished for 
the welfare of the country, the advancement of the Union, the 
success and permancy of its government; with all the terrible 
force of his will he purposed to secure both the one and the other. 
No doubt he had shown contempt for law, as Mr. Jefferson said, 
when he was upon the frontier, hampered by treaties and instruc- 
tions; but his ideals were not those of the law-breaker. They 
were those’ of th2 ardent patriot.’ 

‘Autocrat as he was’, says Parton, ‘Andrew Jackson loved 
the people, the common people, the sons and daughters of toil, 
as truly as they loved him, and believed in them as they believed 
in him. He was in accord with his generation. He had a cleat 
perception that the toiling millions are not a class in the com- 
munity, but are the community. He knew and felt that govern- 


678 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


ment should exist only for the benefit of the governed; that the 
strong are strong only as they may aid the weak; that the rich 
are rightfully rich only when they may so combine and direct 
the labor of the poor as to make labor more profitable to the 
laborer.’ 

“Thomas Hart Benton, his life-time friend and unfailing 
champion has said: 

‘The character of his mind was that of judgment, with a 
rapid and almost intuitive perception, followed by an instant 
and decisive action. ***** It was the nature of Andrew 
Jackson to finish whatever he undertook. He went for a clean 
victory or a clean defeat.’ 

““ “No man in private life,’ says George Bancroft, ‘so possess- 
ed the hearts of all around him; no public man ot this century 
ever returned to private life with an abiding mastery over the 
affections of the people. No man with truer instinct received 
American ideas; no man expressed them so completely, or so 
boldly, or so sincerely. **** History does not describe the 
man that equaled him in firmness or nerve. Not danger, not 
an army in battle array, not wounds, not widespread clamor, 
not age, not the anguish of disease, could impair in the least 
degree the vigor of his steadfast mind. The heroes of antiquity 
would have contemplated with awe the unmatched hardihood 
of his character; and Napoleon, had he possessed his disinter- 
ested will, could never have been vanquished.’ 

“From the pages of a painstaking and appreciative study by 
Professor William Garrott Brown, I have extracted and leave 
with you this deliberate and final estimate: 

“The longest inquiry,’ says Professor Brown, ‘will not 
discover another American of his time who had-in such ample 
measure the gifts of courage and will. Many had fewer faults, 
many superior talents, but none so great a spirit. He was the 
man who had his way. He was the American whose simple 
virtues his countrymen most clearly understood, whose tres- 
passes they most readily forgave; and, until the Democrats of 
the ‘twenties and ‘thirties, will still vote for Jackson—for the 
poor boy who fought his way, step by step, to the highest sta- 
tion; for the soldier who always went to meet the enemy at the 
gate; for the President who never shirked a responsibility; for | 
the man who would not think evil of a woman, or speak harshly | 
to a child. Education, and training in statecraft, would have 
saved him many errors; culture might have softened the fierce- 
ness of his nature. But untrained, uncultivated, imperfect as 
he was, not one of his great contemporaries had so good a right 
to stand for American character.’ 


a 2 Bi fawn 


ISAAC SHELBY, 1750-1826. 


Isaac Shelby one of the greatest characters in American pioneer history. Fought at battle of Polnt Pleasant 
1774; was on the Chickamauga Expedition; organized with Sevier the expedition to King’s Mountain; declined 
offer of President Monroe to make him Secretary of War; was first Governor of Kentucky. This portrait 
published here for the first time is the property of Thomas Hart Shelby, Jr., and brother John Craig Shelby, 
both of Lexington, Ky., and great, great grand sons of Governor Shelby. Portrait was painted by Matthew 
Harris Jouett, 1788-1827, a Kentucky artist. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 679 


Rev. James Gallaher, pioneer preacher, knew Old 


Hickory personally and gives his opinion of him ft 


“The Western Sketch Book” by Reverend James Gallaher, 
copyrighted in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Dis- 
trict of Massachusetts in 1850, printed by Crocker and Brew- 
ster, Boston, is the title of a book whose author knew General 
Jackson all his life. 

Reverend James Gallaher was a pioneer preacher in Tennessee, 
Kentucky, and other parts of the West, and he and his father 
were intimately acquainted with General Andrew Jackson. The 
Gallaher family were among the early settlers of Tennessee and 
their descendants are now living in Roane County, Tennessee, and 
engaged largely in farming and stock raising. They constitute a 
fine old family of honorable, high minded citizens. Reverend 
James Gallaher’s book ‘“The Western Sketch Book” consists of 
thirty-three sketches, in a large measure recording his experience 
as a pioneer preacher. It contains very valuable side lights on the 
early history of the State, and on Jackson, both before and after he 
became famous. He was evidently a well educated man. The 
style is clear, couched in correct English and indicates a man of 
strong mental capacity. He has recorded his ‘‘Recollections of 
General Jackson” and the author thinks that a reproduction of 
these recollections will have weight, coming from Mr. Gallaher, 
who with his family, had known Jackson for so many years. 


““RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL JACKSON. 


“Colonel Samuel M. Grant, of Northern Missouri, first waked 
up my mind to the importance of recording and preserving the 
testimony of General Jackson on the subject of the truth and value 
of the Christian religion. Said he, ‘ I was in Palmyra at the time 
the news was received of General Jackson’s public profession of 
faith in Jesus Christ. A gentleman whom I had long known as a 
professed rejecter of the gospel, hailed me at the door of his office, 
and desired me tocomein. I entered, and he held up a newspaper, 
and said, ‘ I have just been reading the account of General Jackson 
making a profession of the religion of Jesus Christ. It is long since 
my eyes have known a tear; but now I have been weeping freely in 
view of that venerable old man standing up in the church and con- 
fessing Christ as his Savior.’ Such was Colonel Grant’s account 
of this incident in Palmyra, which, he said, affected his heart much, 
as he had long known this gentleman, and had regarded him as 
hopelessly sunk in the vortex of infidelity; and now he was sur- 


680 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisTORY 


prised and gratified to find him startled and roused to such an ex- 
tent by the public religious stand taken by General Jackson. 
Colonel Grant then proceeded to remark, ‘ In my early days, the 
palpable and notorious infidelity of Thomas Jefferson spread a des- 
olation that was mournful over the entire face of the western 
country. Jefferson was distinguished as a politician. His fame 
was everywhere as the draughtsman of the Declaration of In- 
dependence. And when it was blown abroad that Thomas Jeffer- 
son had imbibed the French infidelity, and rejected the gospel, it 
was like ‘the destruction that wasteth at noonday.’ The en- 
emies of religion took courage, put on airs of immense consequence, 
boasted, plumed themselves, and threw up their blasphemy in ‘the 
face of Heaven. Ah! it was reputable, it was literary, it was 
scientific, to scowl at the gospel, and pour forth ‘great swelling 
words’ against all that is sacred. ‘But now,’ continued Colonel 
Grant, ‘here is a man, raised up by the hand of God to the pos- 
session of an influence far beyond all that Jefferson ever possessed ; 
for Jefferson never was able to wield public opinion in this great 
nation, as General Jackson has done. And yet this man publicly 
prostrates himself before the cross, and calls on the crucified 
Redeemer as his Lord and his God. ‘The American church should 
not suffer this important testimony of General Jackson to be over- 
looked or forgotten.’ Such were the remarks of Colonel Samuel 
M. Grant. I felt their appropriateness and their power. I had 
known General Jackson personally from early childhood. My 
father’s house was one of his occasional resting-places, while he 
officiated as Judge in the State of Tennessee, long before he was 
elected General. I remembered his conversation in the family. 
I remembered that when the infidelity of Voltaire, Volney, and 
Thomas Paine were fashionable, rampant, and considered as al- 
most essential to the standing of a gentleman, Judge Jackson freely 
and frequently averred his full and unwaivering confidence in the 
Divine authority of the Bible and the truth of the gospel declara- 
tion that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of lost men, and that we 
must repent of sin, and obey the gospel of Christ, or our souls can- 
not be saved. I often thought of the importance of recording 
General Jackson’s testimony in relation to the gospel; but his 
name was so identified with the politics of the country, that it 
was difficult to say anything concerning him, without touching 
some political chord, which I wished not to agitate. 

“But now the old General is gone. The political ambition 
which his name so often awakened, has almost wholly died away. 
The generation with which he was identified is rapidly passing 
into eternity. And soon the language of the poet, in its fullest 
extent, will be applicable to him in his earthly history: 


““He suffered, but his pangs are o’er; 
Enjoyed, but his delights are fled; 

Had friends—his friends are now no more; 
And foes—his foes are dead.’ 


_ ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY*TENNESSEE HisToRY 681 
_“Andrew Jackson was the son of an eminently pious mother, 
died when he was about fourteen years of age. By this 
her he was early taught the Holy Scriptures, and his young 
d deeply inbued with the knowledged of the great doctrines 
the gospel. With the Catechism of the Westminster Assembly 
was familiar before his mother’s death. The Christian counsel, 
ptayers, the pious example of that mother, attended him 
th rough all the meanderings of his eventful life, and had a control- 
Ting agency in moulding and guiding the thoughts and sentiments 
of his powerful mind. 

_ “He emigrated from South Carolina, his native state, to Ten- 
_ messee, when infidelity flooded all the land. With that infidelity 
Andrew Jackson would have no communion. He was not then a 


d often-repeated declaration of his absolute confidence in the 
_ truth of the Holy Scriptures, and man’s need of the great salvation 
_ therein revealed. It was, indeed, a rare and affecting spectacle—a 
_ young lawyer of acknowledged talents, great promise, and brilliant 
_ wordly prospects, standing up the fearless advocate of the religion 
_ of the Bible; breasting, with undaunted fortitude, a perverted 
_ and polluted public sentiment, and amidst the scoffs and sneers of 
| popular sceptics around, unmoved as the rock that breaks the 
billows which in vain attempt to shake it. 

_ “The elements of true greatness were already conspicuous in 
_ the character of the youthiul Jackson. Those extraordinary at- 
tributes of mind already stood forth, which in after life enabled him 
_ to sway and direct public opinion in one of the greatest nations 
_ on the earth—attributes of mind which so lifted him up, that, in 
fact, he will be to posterity the most notable landmark of the age 
_ in which he lived. For this reason his testimony to the divinity 
_ of the gospel had great weight. General Jackson was not at this 
_ period a professor of religion. Nor can it be said that he avoided 
_ the fashionable amusements of the day. But he honored God in 
- word. And when the faithful minister of the gospel publicly 
“rebuked sin, Jackson honored the messenger of God, and ac- 
_ knowledged the righteousness of the message. 

“An instance of this occurred in the ministerial labors of Rev. 
Robert Henderson. This venerable man was a zealous and power- 
_ ful preacher, who labored abundantly among the plain, frontier 
population of the west. In those primitive days, the minister 
of the gospel considered it his duty to rebuke sin, in whatever 
‘circle of society it might lift up its deformed head. Henderson had 
_ a courageous heart, fervent piety, and descriptive powers of a very 
high order. Perhaps the reader would be pleased with a specimen 
_ of the style of Henderson in reproving sin. If so, he shall be grat- 
ified. Among the popular vices then in vogue, horse-racing and 
 cock-fighting were preeminent. The latter fashionable sport, as 
_ it was then called, had many admirers among western gentleman. 
Of this number General Jackson was one. The consequence was, 


¥ 


682 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


that game chickens were in high repute, and were objects of much 
attention. There had been a large collection of gentlemen at one 
of our western villages, and General Jackson was among them. 
The day had been spent in their favorite sport. It was Saturday; 
and, as the evening drew on, Rev. Robert Henderson rode into 
town, stopped at the principal hotel, and announced that he 
would preach in the court-house on the next day. The tidings 
went abroad on the wings of the wind, for Henderson was well 
known, and it was generally expected that, when he appeared, 
popular and fashionable vices would meet with rough handling. 

“The morning came. The congregation assembled. ‘The ser- 
mon commenced. ‘Lo, this only have I found, that God hath 
made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.’ 
(Eccl. vii. 29.) The preacher spoke in elevated terms of the exalted _ 
and noble existence which the great God bestowed on man at his 
creation. He was created rational and immortal. He was en- 
dowed with capacity for receiving the knowledge and enjoying the 
fellow-ship of the Most High. He was made but a little lower 
than the angels. He was created in the image of God; and when 
man, perfect in body and soul, was stationed in Eden, the spec- 
tacle was so interesting, that enraptured throngs of celestrial 
beings fastened their fixed gaze upon him. Angelic multitudes 
came from far to behold this new specimen of the wonderful work- 
manship of the Most High. And -while they saw, in holy, happy 
man, rich disclosures of the wisdom, the goodness, and the glory 
of the Eternal One, ‘ the morning stars sang together, and all the 
sons of God shouted for joy.’ 

““But, O, ‘ how are the mighty fallen! How has the fine gold 
become dim! Paradise is lost, and man is 

‘Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen’, 
Fallen from his high estate!” 

‘The trail of the serpent degrades and pollutes the earth on 
which we tread. ‘The energies of Adam’s sons are now exhaustedin - 
pursuit of bubbles and vanity. ‘ They sow the wind, and they reap 
the whirlwind.’ I will give you an example. On my arrival at 
this place on last evening, I was happy to learn that quite a number 
of distinguished gentlemen were in town—colonels, and generals, 
and judges; men whom their fellow-citizens have delighted to 
honor, and to whom God has given endowments calculated to 
bless and adorn society. I anticipated an intellectual feast. I 
was glad of the opportunity of spending an evening in such an 
enlightened circle. I congratulated myself in prospect of an enter- 
tainment so rich both in pleasure and in profit. 

‘‘And now, friends, what do you suppose was the great theme 
of discussion in this assembly of superior men? Some may, per- 
haps, conjecture that they discoursed of international law—those 
measures of enlightened policy which are calculated, on the largest 


scale, to benefit the human race. But no; such was not their — 


theme. Others may suppose that the attention of this select body 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 683 


of men was occupied by some new discovery in astronomy. As 
our glasses are improved, remoter fields of creation come to view. 
But no; this was not their subject. Or, do you imagine that 
their eyes were directed to the wonders of redemption, which 
drew down celestrial armies to Bethlehem, and caused them to 
sing heavenly anthems in the hearing of men? No, friends; such 
was not their topic. The whole burden of conversation for the 
evening—I blush while I repeat it, but the duty is imperative—the 
whole burden of conversation was, ‘ game chickens! game chickens! 
their long pedigrees, their rare qualities, their bloody battles!’ 
Tell it not in Gath! Publish it not in the streets of Askalon! O, 
when will our influential men learn and regard the divine maxim, 
that ‘ righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any 
people’! 

“An inferior mind would have taken offense at the plain dealing 
of this resolute ambassador of God. Not so did General Jackson. 
Early the next morning, he called at the minister’s room, and, 
in a manner the most frank and cordial, thanked him for his 
faithfulness in rebuking sin, and his efforts for the best interests 
of society. He declared his full conviction of the truth of the gos- 
pel, and that obedience to it was essential to salvation. And from 
that period, General Jackson was the firm, unwavering supporter 
of this minister, until Robert Henderson was called to go the way 
of all the earth. 

“Tt was said that General Jackson honored God in word, long 
before he became a member of the church. I wish to dwell a 
little on this point. For a number of years, facts have been coming 
before my mind, which have fastened upon it this conviction, that 
the amount of guilt brought on the soul of man by evil words, is 
very great. There is a wretched and wide-spread delusion on the 
public mind in reference to this matter. Many think that words 
are but breath—mere empty air—and that there is but little 
crime in the use of light and idle words on the subject of religion. 
Hence many, whose conscience would cry out against a sinful act, 
will indulge in light and jocular words on serious things. I will 
mention one or two facts that have deeply affected my own mind. 
In the year 1840, I saw, in Northern Illinois, an old man, of steady 
and regular habit, who kept aloof from the church, while his wife 
and daughter and son-in-law and other members of the family, 
turned to the Lord. At length, I asked him, in the presence of 
his family, if he was not willing to turn to the Lord. He replied, 
‘ There is no hope for me, I have sazd so much against the Lord.’ 
I was not sure that I correctly understood him, and therefore asked 
again what it was that he had remarked. ‘ There is no hope for 
me’ replied the old man, ‘ J have spoken so much against the L rd. 
It was the first time in my life, that I had heard a person single out 
the guilt contracted by sins of the tongue, as pressing with awful 
weight on the troubled soul; and fora moment I wassilent. His 
daughter was sitting by. She was a woman, perhaps twenty-seven 


684 | ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HisToORY 


years of age. Said she, ‘ Why, father, I don’t remember to have 
heard you speak against Christ and his religion.’ ‘ My child, it 
was before you were born.’ His wife was present.. They had 
been married more than thirty-three years. ‘Why, husband,’ 
said she, ‘I don’t remember to have heard you speak against the 
religion of Christ.’ ‘ My dear, it was before you were acquainted 
with me. When I was a young man, I joined myself to a club of 
infidels. Our aim was to. bring religion into contempt by ridicule; 
and, O, I have said so much against the Lord, that there is now no 
hope for me.’ Here was an old man, quailing under the terrible 
load of guilt brought upon his soul by evil words uttered some 
thirty-five or forty years before. Take another instance. A man, 
whose head was white with the frost of seventy winters, called upon 
me when alone in my room in Missouri, and said, ‘ What can I do? 
My heart is cold and dead. I fear I have grieved away the Spirit 
of God. When I was young, I courted infidelity, I thought it 
was evidence of a superior mind to scowl at the gospel, and make 
light of sacred things. I did so, till the habit was formed and 
fixed; and now for a long time I have been trying to get rid of it. 
But my heart seems dead to the gospel, and the ghost of that in- 
fidelity which I courted when young, follows me wherever I go. 
It has been haunting me for years; and I shudder at the apprehen- 
sion that it will haunt me into the grave.’ 


“One of the most successful politicians of his day, in the west- 
ern country, had allowed himself to profane the language of God’s 
word by introducing it on light and trivial occasions. He would 
point a joke with a quotation from the Holy Scriptures. When 
jesting and indulging in playful remarks, the word.of God was in 
his mouth with painful frequency. He became habitually addicted 
to an irreverent, profane, and shocking familiarity with the words 
of eternal truth. Many were amused and made merry with his 
supposed wit. But every good man that heard him sporting with 
the solemn language of God, was grieved. At length a sad change 
came over him. He lost all interest for political life. He lost all 
relish for the society of his friends. He lost all regard for his own 
family. His heart withered, life became a burden, heavy, horrible, 
insupportable. And while occupying the governor’s chair, he took 
a loaded rifle, and put a violent end to his earthly existence. 
It was thought that, by light and vain words, he had grieved away 
the favor of God. And woe to that man from whom God departs. 

‘‘Addison’s hymn entitled ‘ Gratitude’ is very beautiful; but 
perhaps the very finest stanza in that hymn is this: 


‘““Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 
My daily thanks employ; 

Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 
That tastes those gifts with joy.’ 


“It is the smile of God that enables us to rise in the morning 


i tie 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE History 685 


with cheerfulness, and address ourselves with good heart to the 
cares and toils of the day. But woe to that man from whom the 
smile of God is taken away. 

“Wicked words have an awful tendency to banish the soul 
from the favor of God. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, predicts 
one leading object of the final Judge, in the great day, is to execute 
judgment on sinners for the ‘hard speeches’ which they have 
spoken against him. Two of the ten commandments are employ- 
ed to guard men against sins of the tongue. And it is a sin 
of the tongue—blasphemy against the Holy Ghost—that ‘ shall 
never be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to 
come.’ 

“I visited General Jackson twice, in the month of September, 
1843. He was then very frail, and had the appearance of extreme 
old age; but he was reposing with calmness and confidence on the 
promise and covenant of God. He had now been a member of the 
church for several years. And when I witnessed his serenity and 
his unclouded hope, I thought of the manner in which he had 
honored God in word, when the cause of religion was very unpopular, 
and when a deluge of infidelity threatened to desolate the whole 
land. 

“Tt is to be regretted that most of our political men—presi- 
dents, governors, and those high in authority—when they speak 
on the subject of religion, use language so guarded and equivocal, 
that a Turk, a Jew, or an enlightened heathen could adopt it. 
They will speak of the ‘ Supreme Being,’ ‘ the great Disposer of all 
events, ’ ‘ the source of national prosperity,’ &c., &c. But General 
Jackson’s language was that of a decided Christian. He spoke of 
the divine Redeemer; his wonderful union with the nature of man; 
his vicarious death in the room of sinners; pardon through his 
blood; and eternal glory in heaven, bestowed on believers for his 
righteousness’ sake. 

“There was a little company of Christian friends present in the 
Hermitage. After expressing the warmest interest in the church 
of Christ, and his hope that she would yet prosper and bless the 
world, General Jackson turned to me, and said, ‘ There is a beau- 
tiful hymn on the subject of the exceeding great and precious prom- 
ises of God to his people. It was a favorite hymn with my dear 
wife till the day of her death. It has been very precious to me. 
It commences thus: 

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.’ I wish you would 
sing it now.’ So the little company in the Hermitage, at his re- - 
quest, sung the following hymn: | 

‘How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 

Is laid for your faith in the excellent word! 

What more can he say than to you he hath said, 

You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled? 

‘*The sublime and glorious doctrine embodied in this hymn was 
the food of his spirit, the joy and the rejoicing of his heart. When 
I looked upon him, now desolate, in extreme old age; his early 


686 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


friends almost entirely gone; his beloved wife in the grave; his 
own health failing amidst accumulating infirmities, yet reposing, 
with absolute satisfaction and serenity, on the free, the firm, the 
everlasting gospel—I was forcibly reminded of that rich, un- 
paralleled paragraph, near the close of Christ’s Sermon on the 
Mount:.‘ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house 
upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it 
was founded upon a rock.’ I walked into his garden, and there 
was the grave of his wife, covered with a plain marble slab, with 
the inscription, ‘ Rachel Jackson,’ with the date of her birth and 
her death, and beside it his own grave, all prepared and ready for 
the reception of his body, when death should call him home. 

“T learned, that when the weather was good, he spent a portion 
of every day at this grave, in meditation and prayer; and that he 
believed he was there blessed with the presence of Him who has 
taken the sting from death, and the victory from the grave. I 
returned to the house. My parents had long been his particular 
friends, but they are now departed. He met me in the hall, and 
said, ‘ Your father and your mother are gone!’ I silently as- 
sented; my emotions forbade me to speak. ‘ Well,’ said he, ‘ they 
lived to a good old age.’ It is impossible for any one, who never 
heard General Jackson speak, to understand all the interest that 
he threw into this brief Bible quotation. His attitude, his tones, 
the whole manner of the venerable man impressed me with a sense 
of new beauties in that precious promise, (Gen. xv: 15,) ‘ Thou 
shalt go to thy fathers in peace: thou shalt be buried in a good old 
age.’ 

‘The Christian character of General Jackson is seen in his reply 
to Commodore Elliott concerning the sarcophagus, or marble 
tomb, which had once been prepared for an eastern king or em- 
peror. Commodore Elliott had brought from Asia this sarco- 
phagus, and presented it to the National Institute at Washington, 
that through the National Institute it might be presented to Gen- 
eral Jackson. ‘The officer who presented it to the Institute, re- 
marked, ‘ It is believed to have once held the remains of Alexander 
Severus, and is a fit resting-place for all that is mortal of Andrew 
Jackson.’ 

“Commodore Elliott wrote to General Jackson, and the follow- 
ing is his reply: 

“Hermitage, March 27, 1845. 
“Dear Sir: 3 

“Your letter of the 18th instant, together with the copy of 
the proceedings of the National Institute, furnished me by their 
corresponding secretary, on the presentation, by you, of the sar- 
cophagus for their acceptance, on condition it shall be preserved, 
and in honor of my memory, have been received, and are now before 
me. 


oe _— 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EarR_y TENNESSEE HISTORY 687 


“Although laboring under great debility and affliction from a 
Severe attack, from which I may not recover, I raise my pen and 
endeavor to reply. The steadiness of my nerves may, perhaps, 
lead you to conclude my prostration of strength is not so great as 
here expressed. Strange as it may appear, my nerves are as steady 
as they were forty years gone by; whilst, from debility and afflic- 
tion, I am gasping for breath. 

“I have read the whole proceedings of the presentation, by you, 
of the sarcophagus, and the resolutions passed by the board of 
directors, so honorable to my fame, with sensations and feelings 
more easily to be conjectured than by me expressed. The whole 
proceedings call for my most grateful thanks, which are hereby 
tendered to you, and through you to the president and directors of 
the National Institute. But with the warmest sensations that 
cam imspire a grateful heart, I must decline accepting the honor 
intended to be bestowed. I cannot consent that my mortal body 
shall be laid in a repository prepared for an emperor or a king. 
My republican feelings and principles forbid it; the simplicity of 
our system of government forbids it. Every monument erected 
to perpetuate the memory of our heroes and statesmen ought to 
bear evidence of the economy and simplicity of our republican 
institutions, and the plainness of our republican citizens, who are 
the sovereigns of our glorious Union, and whose virtue is to per- 
petuate it. True virtue cannot exist where pomp and parade are 
the governing passions; it can only dwell with the people—the 
great laboring and producing classes, that form the bone and sinew 
oi our confederacy. 

“For these reasons I cannot accept the honor you, and the 
president and directors of the National Institute, intended to be- 
stow. I cannot permit my remains to be the first in these United 
States to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an emperor ora 
king. I again repeat, please accept for yourself, and convey to the 
president and directors of the National Institute, my most pro- 
found respects for the honor you and they intended to bestow. 
I have prepared an humble depository for my mortal body beside 
that wherein lies my beloved wife, where, without any pomp or 
parade, I have requested. when my God calls me to sleep with my 
fathers, to be laid—for both of us there to remain until the last 
trumpet sounds to call the dead to judgment, when we, I hope, shall 
rise together, clothed with that heavenly body promised to all who 
believe in our glorious Redeemer, who died for us, that we might 
live, and by whose atonement I hope for a blessed immortality. 

“T am, with great respect, 

“Your friend and fellow-citizen, 
*“Andrew Jackson. 
“To Com. J. D. Elliott, United States Navy.” 


“This letter is among the last productions of his pen. His 
death soon followed. I hope yet to see the above letter beauti- 


688 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


fully printed, on fine material, handsomely framed, and kept in 
some conspicuous place in the house of American families, for the 
instruction of children and children’s children. 

“Christian people of America! Bless the name of God, that he 
has given you a president who was not ashamed to speak of ‘ our 
glorious Redeemer, who died for us, that we might live;’ ‘the 
sounding of the last trump, to call the dead to judgment;’ and 
his ‘atonement,’ through whom we ‘hope for a blessed immor- 
tality.’ 

“The death of the worthy old general furnished a fine atta! 
tration of the sustaining power of the gospel when earthly comforts 
wither and die. ‘Henry,’ said he to a highly valued young friend 
who was attending in his room—‘ Henry, when we have lived as 
long as we can be useful to others, and as long as we can enjoy 
life ourselves, we should be willing to go at our heavenly Father’s 


call. That is now my condition. I have lived long; but, now the © 


frailties of age are upon me, I can no more be useftil to my friends. 
Indeed, I can only be a burden to them. I can no longer be useful 
to the Church of God. The pains of disease are upon me. I can 
no longer enjoy the bounties of Providence in life. What then? 
It is time to die. My heavenly Father calls, and I trust Iam ready 
to go.’ 

“The physician who attended General Jackson on his death- 
bed wrote a very instructive and powerful letter, describing the 
last parting scene in the Hermitage. The chamber of death seem- 
ed very near ‘ the gate of heaven.’ The soul of the dying man was 
full of the hope of immortality, while he took an affectionate fare- 
well of the members of his family, the children, the servants, all 
who belonged to the household. He commended them to God 
in Christ—spoke with unwavering confidence of life in heaven for 
the followers of the Redeemer. He then entered the cold stream 
of death, and was seen no more. 

‘« “As some tall rock, that lifts his awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 
Though round its breast the rolling cloudsarespread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.’ 
“With a few additional remarks I shall close this article. 


“1. General Jackson, in theology, was a decided and thorough 


Calvinist. That sublime system of divinity, so clearly taught in 
the Holy Scriptures, and so accurately epitomized in the Shorter 
Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, was the joy and the re- 
joicing of his heart. His ordinary conversation abounded with 
references to the hand and counsel of God. When rehearsing 
facts that had occurred in his military or political life, he would 
repeatedly pause and say, ‘it was the hand of God.’ ‘ Divine 
Providence ordered it so.’ ‘Such an officer was cut down; he 
was a noble man. I felt his loss much, but it was the hand and 
counsel of God.’ This continual reference to divine Providence, 
in all the events of life, was a strongly marked feature of his con- 
versation. I must here give an anecdote. An able jurist, born 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EaRLy TENNESSEE HISTORY 689 


and educated at the east, had emigrated to the west; and, by dil- 
igence and fidelity in his profession, he had become prosperous 
and popular. He was now a candidate for an important office, 
in a district where the popularity of General Jackson was abso- 
lutely overwhelming. It was well known that the candidate, whose 
friendship for Jackson was in the subjunctive mood, would most 
certainly be elected ‘to stay at home.’ It was indispensable to 
success that the voters should know before the election that the 
candidate was the friend and admirer of Jackson. Our jurist was 
very hostile to the doctrines of Calvinism. Indeed, I fear his 
hostility went further; for I had been told how he worried some 
young preachers with sceptical objections to the Bible. I was 
thrown into his society not long before the election day. After 
a few moments’ conversation, said he, ‘ Calvinism degrades the 
human mind. I say, it degrades the human mind!’ 

“ ‘Yes, sir,’ was my reply ‘ yes, sir, Calvinism degraded your 
New England man Jonathan Edwards, as all Europe and all Amer- 
ica confess, into the most distinguished theological writer who has 
ever put pen to paper in the English language. Both hemispheres 
maintain that Jonathan Edwards is unequalled among English 
theological writers. How Calvinism degraded him! Again, Cal- 
vinism has degraded General Jackson, as you maintain in all your 
public addresses, throughout your electioneering canvass, into the 
most eminent military and political man which the world has 
produced in the present age. How degrading is the influence of 
Calvinism!’ 

“2. General Jackson, in his intercourse with his neighbors and 
with society, was ‘the good man’ and the perfect gentleman. 
It is to be regretted that heated politicians and crazy fanatics 
should be so successful in misrepresenting men and things, as to 
keep worthy citizens in one section of our country under injurious 
mistakes relative to their fellow-citizens in another section. 
Christianity, common sense, love to God, and benevolence to man, 
are the same, east and west, go where you will, throughout our 
great country. 

“A few years ago, I had the privilege of sitting for a number 
of successive days in the senate chamber at Washington. I looked 
on Webster from Massachusetts, Wright from New York, Calhoun 
from South Carolina, Burges from Rhode Island, Preston, a native 
of Virginia, Clay from Kentucky, Judge White from Tennessee, 
and all their fellow-senators; and I said, ‘ Be you Whigs or be you 
Democrats, be you from the east or from the west, from the north 
or from the south, any country on earth might be proud to call 
you her citizens. And I will rejoice that the beloved land where 
I was born, nurses in her bosom such a body of men.’ 

“3. Let me close with repeating, that General Jackson, from 
early life, was characterized by reverence for sacred things. He 
spoke reverently of the word of God, the house of God, the or- 
dinances of God. He honored God in word. And God blessed 
him while he lived, and blessed him when he died. 


690 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 


Para a i 
CHAPTER 26. 


Jackson's “Farewell Address’ on March 4, 1837 
the date of his retirement from the Presidency. 


rd 
esse ee esse nea ae eae ee eee] oe] ews 


“Fellow-citizens: Being about to retire finally from public 
life, I beg leave to offer you my grateful thanks for the many 
proofs of kindness and confidence which I have received at your 
hands. It has been my fortune in the discharge of public duties, — 
civil and military, frequently to have found myself in difficult and 
trying situations, where prompt decision and energetic action were 
necessary, and where the interest of the country required that high 
responsibilities should be fearlessly encountered; and it is with the 
deepest emotions of gratitude that I acknowledge the continued 
and unbroken confidence with which you have sustained me in 
every trial. My public life has been a long one, and I can not hope 
that it has at all times been free from errors; but I have the con- 
solation of knowing that if mistakes have been committed they have 
not seriously injured the country I so anxiously endeavored to 
serve, and at the moment when I surrender my last public trust, 
I leave this great people prosperous, and happy, in the full enjoy- 
ment of liberty and peace, and honored and respected by every 
nation of the world. 


“Tf my humble efforts have in any degree contributed to pre- 
serve to you these blessings, I have been more than rewarded by 
the honors you have heaped upon me, and, above all, by the gen- 
erous confidence with which you have supported me in eyery peril, 
and with which you have continued to animate and cheer my path 
to the closing hour of my political life. The time has now come 
when advanced age and a broken frame warn me to retire from 
public concerns, but the recollections of the many favors you have 
bestowed upon me is engraven on my heart, and I have felt that I 
could not part from your service without making this public ac- 
knowledegment of the gratitude I owe you. And ifI use this oc- 
casion to offer to you the counsels of age and experience, you will, 
I trust, receive them with the same indulgent kindness which you 
have so often extended to me, and will at least see in them an 
earnest desire to perpetuate in this favored land the blessings of 
liberty and equai law. 

“We have now lived almost fifty years under the Constitution 
framed by the sages and patriots of the Revolution. The con- 
flicts in which the nations of Europe were engaged during a great 
part of this period, the spirit in which they waged war against each 
other, and our intimate commercial connections with every part of 


THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Official residence of the Presidents of the United States. The original executive mansion was begun in 1792 and first occupied by President Adams in 1800. It was burned 
by the British in 1814 and rebuilt in 1818. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 691 


the civilized world rendered it a time of much difficulty for the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. We have had our seasons of peace 
and of war, with all the evils which precede or follow a state of 
hostility with powerful nations. We encountered these trials with 
our Constitution yet in its infancy, and under the disadvantages 
which a new and untried government must always feel when it is 
called upon to put forth its whole strength without the lights of 
experience to guide it or the weight of precedents to justify its 
measures. But we have passed triumphantly through all these 
difficulties. Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment, 
and at the end of nearly half a century we find that it has preserved 
unimpaired the liberties of the people, secured the rights of prop- 
erty, and that our country has improved and is flourishing beyond 
any example in the history of nations. 

“In our domestic concerns there is everything to encourage us, 
and if you are true to yourselves nothing can impede your march to 
the highest point of national prosperity. The States which had’so 
long been retarded in their improvement by the Indian tribes re- 
siding in the midst of them, are at length relieved from this evil, and 
this unhappy race—the original dwellers in our land—are now 
placed in a situation where we may well hope that they will share in 
the blessings of civilization and be saved from the degradation and 
destruction to which they were rapidly hastening while they re- 
mained in the States; and while the safety and comfort of our own 
citizens have been greatly promoted by their removal, the philan- 
thropist will rejoice that the remnant of that ill-fated race has been 
at length placed beyond the reach of injury or oppression, and that 
the paternal care of the General Government will hereafter watch 
over them and protect them. y 

“Tf we turn to our relations with foreign powers, we find our 
condition equally gratifying. Actuated by the sincere desire to do 
justice to every nation and to preserve the blessings of peace, our 
intercourse with them has been conducted on the part of this Gov- 
ernment in the spirit of frankness; and I take pleasure in saying 
that it has generally been met in a corresponding temper. Diffi- 
culties of old standing have been surmounted by friendly discussion 
and the mutual desire to be just, and the claims of our citizens, 
which had been long withheld, have at length been acknowledged 
and adjusted and satisfactory arrangements made for their final 
payment; and with a limited, and I trust a temporary exception, 
our relations with every foreign power are now of the most friendly 
character, our commerce continually expanding, and our flag re- 
spected in every quarter of the world. 

“These cheering and grateful prospects and these multiplied 
favors we owe, under Providence, to the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution. It is no longer a question whether this great country 
can remain happily united and flourish under our present form of 
government. Experience, the unerring test of all human under- 
takings, has shown the wisdom and foresight of those who formed 


692 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


it, and have proved that in the union of these states there is a sure 
foundation for the brightest hopes of freedom and for the happiness 
of the people. At every hazard and by every sacrifice this Union 
must be preserved. 

“The necessity of watching with jealous anxiety for preserva- 
tion of the Union was earnestly pressed upon his fellow-citizens by 
the Father of his Country in his Farewell Address. He has there 
told us that ‘while experience shall not have demonstrated its im- 
practibility, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism 
of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands;’ 
and he has cautioned us in the strongest terms against the forma- 
tion of parties on geographical discriminations, as one of the means 
which might disturb our Union and to which designing men would 
be likely to resort. d 

“The lessons contained in this invaluable legacy of Washington 
to his countrymen should be cherished in the heart of every citizen 
to the latest generation; and perhaps at no period of time could they 
be more usefully remembered than at the present moment; 
for when we look upon the scenes that are passing around us and 
dwell upon the pages of his parting address, his paternal counsel 
would seem to be not merely the offspring of wisdom and fore- 
sight, but the voice of prophecy, foretelling events and warning us 
of the evil to come. Forty years have passed since this imperishable 
document was given to his countrymen. The Federal Constitution 
was then regarded by him as an experiment—and the success of 
which the best hopes of his country depended; and we all know that 
he was prepared to lay down his life, if necessary, to secure to ita 
full and fair trial. The trial has been made. It has succeeded be- 
yond the proudest hopes of those who framed it. Every quarter of 
this widely extended nation has felt its blessings and shared in the 
general prosperty produced by its adoption. But amid this general 
prosperity and splendid success the dangers of which he warned us 
are becoming every day more evident, and the signs of evil are 
sufficiently apparent to awaken the deepest anxiety in the bosom of 
the patriot. We behold between different parts of the United 
States and to place party divisions directly upon geographical dis- 
tinctions; to excite the South against the North and the North 
against the South, and to force into the controversy the most 
delicate and exciting topics—topics upon which it is impossible 
that a large portion of the Union can ever speak without strong 
emotion. Appeals, too, are constantly made to sectional interests 
in order to influence the election of the Chief Magistrate, as if it 
were desired that he should favor a particular quarter of the coun- 
try instead of fulfilling the duties of his station with impartial 
justice to all; and the possible dissolution of the Union has at 
length become an ordinary and familar subject of discussion. Has 
the warning voice of Washington been forgotten, or have designs 
already been formed to sever the Union? Let it not be supposed 
that I impute to all of those who have taken an active part in 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 693 


these unwise and unprofitable discussions a want of patriotism or 
of public virtue. The honorable feeling of State pride and local 
attachments finds a place in the bosoms of the most enlightened 
and pure. But while such men are conscious of their own intregrity 
and honesty of purpose, they ought never to forget that the citizens 
_ of other States are their political brethren, and that however mis- 
taken they may be in their views, the great body of them are equally 
honest and upright with themselves. Mutual suspicions and re- 
proaches may in time create mutual hostility, and artful and de- 
signing men will always be found who are ready to foment these 
fatal divisions and to inflame the natural jealousies of different 
sections of the country. The history of the world is full of such ex- 
amples, and especially the history of republics. 

“What have you to gain by division and dissension? Delude not 
yourselves with the belief that a breach once made may be after- 
wards repaired. If the Union is once severed, the line of separation 
will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now 
debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in 
fields of battle and determined by the sword. Neither should you 
deceive yourselves with the hope that the first line of separation 
would be the permanent one, and that nothing but harmony and 
concord would be found in the new associations formed upon the 
disolution of this Union. Local interests would still be found 
there, and unchastened ambition. And if the recollection of com- 
mon dangers, in which the people of these United States stood side 
by side against the common foe, the memory of victories won by 
their united valor, the prosperty and happiness they have enjoyed 
under the present Constitution, the proud name they bear as 
citizens of this great Republic—ii all these recollections and proofs 
of common interest are not strong enough to bind us together as 
one people, what tie will hold united the new divisions of empire 
when these bonds have been broken and this Union dissevered ? 
The first line of separation would not last for a single generation; 
new fragments would be torn off, new leaders would spring up, 
and this great and glorious Republic would soon be broken into a 
multitude of petty States, without commerce, without credit, jeal- 
ous of one another, armed for mutual aggression, loaded with taxes 
to pay armies and leaders, seeking aid against each other from 
foreign powers, insulted and trampled upon by the nations in 
Europe, until, harassed with conflicts and humbled and debased in 
spirit, they would be ready to submit to the absolute dominion of 
any military adventurer and to surrender their liberty for the sake 
of repose. It is impossible to look on the consequences that would 
inevitably follow the destruction of the Government and not feel 
indignant when we hear cold calculations about the value of the 
Union and have so constantly before us a line of conduct so well 
calculated to weaken its ties. 

“There is too much at stake to allow pride or passion to in- 
fluence your decision. Never for a moment believe that the great 


694 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately intend 
to do wrong. They may under the influence of temporary ex- 
citement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be 
misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a com- 
munity so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United 
States, argument will soon make them sensible of their errors, and 
when convinced they will be ready to repair them. If they have 
no higher or better motives to govern them, they will at least per- 
ceive that their own interests require them to be just to others, as 
they hope to receive justice at their hands. 

“But in order to maintain the Union unimpaired it is absolutely 
necessary that the laws passed by the constituted authorities 
should be faithfully executed in every part of the country, and that 
every good citizen should at all times stand ready to put down, with 
the combined force of the nation, every attempt at unlawful re- 
sistance, under whatever pretext it may be made or whatever shape 
it may assume. Unconstitutional or oppressive laws no doubt be 
passed by Congress either from erroneous views or the want of due 
consideration; if they are within reach of judicial authority, the 
remedy is easy and peaceful; and if, from the character of the law, 
it is an abuse of power not within the control of the judiciary, 
then free discussion and calm appeals to reason and to the justice 
of the people will not fail to redress the wrong. But until the laws 
shall be declared void by the courts or repealed by Congress no 
individual or combination of individuals can be justified in forcibly 
resisting its execution. It is impossible that any government can 
continue to exist upon any other principles. It would cease to be a 
government and would be unworthy of the name if it had not the 
power to enforce the execution of its own laws within its own sphere 
of action. - 

“It is true that cases may be imagined disclosing such a settled 
purpose of usurpation and oppression on the part of the Goy- 
ernment as would justify an appeal to arms. ‘These, however, are 
extreme cases, which we have no reason to apprehend in a govern- 
ment where the power is in the hands of a patriotic people. And 
no citizen who loves his country would in any case whatever re- 
sort to forcible resistance unless he clearly saw that the time had 
come when a free man would prefer death to submission; for if 
such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens of one section of the 
country arrayed in arms against those of another in doubtful con- 
flict, let the battle result as it may, there will be an end of the Union 
and with it an end to the hopes of freedom. ‘The victory of the in- 
jured would not secure to them the blessings of liberty; it would 
avenge their wrongs, but they would themselves share in the com- 
mon ruin. 

“But the Constitution can not be maintained nor the Union 
preserved, in opposition to public feeling, by the mere exertion of 
the coercive powers confided to the General Government. The 
foundations must be laid in the affections of the people, in the se- 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 695 


curity it gives to life, liberty, character, and property in every 
quarter of the country, and in the fraternal attachment which the 
citizens of the several States bear to one another as members of one 
political family, mutually contributing to promote the happiness 
of each other. Hence the citizens of every State should studiously 
avoid everything calculated to wound the sensibility or offend the 
just pride of the people of other States, and they should frown upon 
any proceedings within their own borders likely to disturb the tran- 
quility of their political brethren in other portions of the Union. 
In a country so extensive as the United States, and with pursuits so 
varied, the internal regulations of the several States must frequent- 
ly differ from one another in important particulars, and this 
difference is unavoidably increased by the varying principles upon 
which the American Colonies were originally planted—principles 
which had taken deep root in their social relations before the Rev- 
olution, and therefore of necessity influencing their policy since 
they became free and independent States. But each State has the- 
unquestionable right to regulate its own internal concerns accord- 
ing to its own pleasure, and while it does not interfere with the 
rights of the people of other States or the rights of the Union, 
every State must be the sole judge of the measure proper to secure 
the safety of its citizens and promote their happiness; and all 
efforts on the part of people of other States to cast odium upon 
their institutions, and all measures calculated to disturb their 
rights of property or put in jeopardy their peace and internal tran- 
quility, are in direct opposition to the spirit in which the Union was 
formed, and must endanger its safety. Motives of philanthropy 
may be assigned for this unwarrantable interference, and weak men 
may persuade themselves for a moment that they are laboring 
in the cause of humanity and asserting the rights of the human race; 
but everyone, upon sober reflection, will see that nothing but mis- 
chief can come from these improper assaults upon the feelings and 
rights of others. Rest assured that the men found busy in this work 
of discord are not worthy of your confidence, and deserve your 
strongest reprobation. 

“Tn the legislation of Congress also, and in every measure of 
the General Government, justice to every portion of the United 
States should be faithfully observed. No free government can 
stand without virtue in the people and a lofty spirit of patriotism, 
and if the sordid feelings of mere selfishness shall usurp the place 
which ought to be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress 
will soon be converted into a scramble for personal and sectional 
advantages. Under our free institutions the citizens of every quar- 
ter of our country are capable of attaining a high degree of pros- 
perity and happiness without seeking to profit themselves at the 
expense of others; and every such attempt must in the end fail to 
succeed, for the people in every part of the United States are too 
enlightened not to understand their own rights and interests and 
to direct and defeat every effort to gain undue advantage over 


696 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


them; and when such designs are discovered it naturally provokes 
resentments which can not always be easily allayed. Justice—full 
and ample, justice—to every portion of the United States should 
be the ruling principle of every freeman, and should guide the de- 
liberations of every public body, whether it be State or national. 

“It is well known that there have always been those amongst 
us who wish to enlarge the powers of the General Government, and 
experience would seem to indicate that there is a tendency on the 
part of this Government to overstep the boundaries marked out for 
it by the Constitution. Its legtimate authority is abundantly 
sufficient for all the purposes for which it was created, and its 
powers being expressly enumerated, there can be not justification 
for claiming anything beyond them. Every attempt to exercise 
power beyond these limits should be promptly and firmly opposed, 
for one evil example will lead to other measures still more mis- 
chievous; and if the principle of constructive powers or supposed 
advantages or temporary circumstances shall ever be permitted to 
justify the assumption of a power not given by the Constitution, 
the General Government will before long absorb all the powers of 
legislation, and you will have in effect but one consolidated govern- 
ment. From the extent of our country, its diversified interests, 
different pursuits, and different habits, it is too obvious for argu- 
ment that a single consolidated government would be wholly 
inadequate to watch over and protect its interests; and every friend 
of our free institutions should be always prepared to maintain un- 
impaired and in full vigor the rights and sovereignty of the States 
and to confine the action of the General Government strictly to 
the sphere of its appropriate duties. 


“There is, perhaps, no one of the powers conferred on the 
Federal Government so liable to abuse as the taxing power. The 
most productive and convenient scources of revenue were mec- 
essarily given to it, that it might be able to perform the important 
duties imposed upon it; and the taxes which it lays upon commerce 
being concealed from the real payer in the price of the article, they 
do not so readily attract the attention of the people as smaller sums 
demanded from them directly by the tax gatherer. But the tax 
imposed on goods enhances by so much the price of the commodity 
to the consumer, and as many of these duties are imposed on arti- 
cles of necessity which are daily used by the great body of the 
people, the money raised by these imposts is drawn from their 
pockets. Congress has no right under the Constitution to take 
money from the people unless it is required to execute some one of 
the specific powers intrusted to the Government; and if they raise 
more than is necessary for such purposes, it is an abuse of the power 
of taxation, and unjust and oppressive. It may indeed happen that 
the revenue will sometimes exceed the amount anticipated when the 
taxes were laid. When, however, this ascertained, it is easy to re- 
duce them, and in such a case it is unquestionably the duty of the 
Government to reduce them for no circumstances can justify it in 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 697 


assuming a power not given to it by the Constitution nor in taking 
away the money of the people when it is not needed for the legiti- 
mate wants of the Government. 


“Plain as these principles appear to be, you will yet find there is 
a constant effort to induce the General Government to go beyond, 
the limits of its taxing power and impose unnecessary burdens upon 
the people. Many powerful interests are continually at work to 
procure heavy duties on commerce and to swell the revenue beyond 
the real necessity of the public service, and the country has already 
felt the injurious effects of their combined influence. They suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a tariff of those duties bearing most oppres- 
sively on the agricultural and laboring classes of society and pro- 
ducing a revenue that could not be usefully employed within the 
range of the powers conferred upon Congress, and in order to fasten 
upon the people this unjust and unequal system of taxation ex- 
travagant schemes of internal improvements wer2 got up in various 
quarters to squander the money and to purchase support. Thus 
one unconstitutional measure was intended to be upheld by 
another, and the abuse of the power of taxation was to be main- 
tained by usurping the power of expending the money in internal 
improvements. You can not have forgotten the severe and doubt- 
ful struggle through which we passed when the executive depart- 
ment of the Government by its veto endeavored to arrest this 
prodigal scheme of injustice and to bring back the legislation of 
Congress to the boundaries prescribed by the Constitution. The 
good sens and practical judgment of the people when the subject 
was brought before them sustained the course of the Executive, and 
this plan of unconstitutional expenditures for the purposes of 
corrupt influence is, I trust, finally overthrown. 


“The result of this decision has been felt in the rapid extin- 
guishment of the public debt and the large accumulation of a sur- 
plus in the Treasury, notwithstanding the tariff was reduced and 
is now very far below the amount originally contemplated by its 
advocates. But, rely upon it, the design to collect an extravagant 
revenue and to burden you with taxes beyond the economical wants 
of the Government is not yet abandoned. The various interests 
which have combined together to impose a heavy tariff and to pro- 
duce an overflowing treasury are too strong and have too much 
at stake to surrender the contest. The corporations and weakly 
individuals who are engaged in large manufacturing establishments 
desire a high tariff to increase their gains. Designing politicians 
will support it to conciliate their favor and to obtain the means of 
profuse expenditure for the purpose of purchasing influence in 
other quarters; and since the people have decided that the Federal 
Government can not be permitted to employ its income in internal 
improvements, efforts will be made to seduce and mislead the citi- 
zens of the several States by holding out to them the deceitful pros- 
pect of benefits to be derived from a surplus revenue collected by 
the General Government and annually divided among the Statcs; 


45 


698 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


and if, encouraged by these fallacious hopes, the States should dis- 
regard the principles of economy which ought to characterize 
every republican government, and should indulge in lavish ex- 
penditures exceeding their resources, they will before long find 
themselves oppressed with debts which they are unable to pay, and 
the temptation will become irrestible to support a high tariff in 
order to obtain a surplus for distribution. Do not allow your- 
selves, my fellow-citizens, to be misled on this subject. The 
Federal Government can not collect a surplus for such purposes 
without violating the principles of: the Constitution and assuming 
powers which have not been granted. It is, moreover, a system ot 
injustice, and if persisted in will inevitably lead to corruption, and 
must end in ruin. The surplus revenue will be drawn from the 
pockets of the people— from the farmer, the mechanic, and the 
laboring classes of society; but who will receive it when distributed 
among the States, where it is to be disposed of by leading parti- 
sans to gratify? It will certainly not be returned to those who paid 
it and have niost need of it and are honestly entitled to it. There 
is but one safe rule, and that is to confin: the General Government 
rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power 
to raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enume- 
rated in the Constitution, and if its income is found to exceed 
these wants it should be forthwith reduced and the burden of the 
people so far lightened. 

“In reviewing the conflicts which have taken place between 
different interests in the United States and the policy pursued since 
the adoption of our present form of Government, we find nothing 
that has produced such deep-seated evil as the course of legislation 
in relation to the currency. The Constitution of the United States 
unquestionably intended to secure to the people a circulating 
medium of gold and silver. But the establishment of a national 
bank by Congress, with the privilege of issuing paper money re- 
ceivable in the payment of the public dues, and the unfortunate 
course of legislation in the several States upon the same subject, 
drove from general circulation the constitutional currency and sub- 
stituted one of paper in its place. 

“It was not easy for men engaged in ordinary pursuits of busi- 
ness, whose attention had not been particularly drawn to the sub- 
ject, to foresee all the consequences of a currency exclusively ot 
paper, and we ought not on that account to be surprised at the 
facility with which laws were obtained to carry into effect the paper 
system. Honest and even enlightened men are sometimes misled 
by the specious and plausible statements of the designing. But 
experience has now proved the mischiefs and dangers of a paper 
currency and it rests with you to determine whether the proper 
remedy shall be applied. 

“The paper system being founded on public confidence and 
having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to great and sudden 
fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure and the wages of 


<a 


a ee a 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 699 


labor unsteady and uncertain. The corporations which create 
the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating 
medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when con- 
fidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the 
influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues ot 
paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands 
of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to 
day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction 
‘takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have 
given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and 
runious contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the 
whole community. The banks by this means save themselves, and 
the mischievous consequences of their imprudence of cupidity are 
visited upon the public. Nor does the evil stop there. These ebbs 
and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit 
naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits 
and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in 
the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds 
of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a mul- 
titude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society 
and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest 
industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best 
preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our coun- 
try; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, 
it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will 
multiply the number of dependents on bank accomodations and 
bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will 
become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, 
which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no 
distant day the purity of your Government. Some of the evils 
which arise from this system of paper press with peculiar harship 
upon the class of society least able to bear it. A portion of this 
currency frequently becomes depreciated or worthless, and all of it 
is easily counterfeited in such a manner as to requre peculiar skill 
and much experience to distinguish the counterfeit from the 
genuine note. These firauds are most generally perpetrated in the 
smaller notes, which are used in the daily transactions of ordinary 
business and the losses occasioned by them are commonly thrown 
upon the laboring classes of society, whose situation and pursuits 
put it out of their power to guard themselves from their imposi- 
tions, and whose daily wages are necessary for their subsistence. 
It is the duty of every government so to regulate its currency as to 
protect this numerous class, as far as practicable, from the im- 
positions of avarice and fraud. It is more specially the duty of the 
United States, where the Government is emphatically the Gov2rn- 
ment of the people, and where this respectable portion of our 
citizens are so proudly distinguished from the laboring classes of all 
other nations by their independent spirit, their love of liberty, 
their intelligence, and their high tone of moral character. Their 


700 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


industry in peace is the source of our wealth and their bravery in 
war has covered us with glory; and the Government of the United 
States will but ill discharge its duties if it leaves them a prey to such 
dishonest impositions. Yet it is evident that their interests can 
not be effectually protected unless silver and gold are restored to 
circulation. 

“These views alone of the paper currency are sufficient to call 
for immediate reform; but there is another consideration which 
should still more strongly press it upon your attention. 

“Recent events have proved that the paper-money system of 
this country may be used as an engine to undermine your free in- 
stitutions, and that those who desire to engross all power in the 
hands of the few and to govern by corruption or force are aware of 
its power and prepared to employ it. Your banks now furnish your 
only circulating medium, and money is plenty or scarce according 
to the quanity of notes issued by them. While they have capitals 
not greatly disproportioned to each other, they are competitors in 
business, and no one of them can exercise dominion over the rest; 
and although in the present state of the currency these banks may 
and do operate injuriously upon the habits of business, the pecun- 
iary concerns, and the moral tone of society, yet, from their number 
and dispersed situation, they can not combine for the purposes of 
political influence, and whatever may be the dispositions of some of 
them their power of mischief must necessarily be confined to a 
narrow space and felt only in their immediate neighborhoods. 

“But when the charter for the Bank of the United States was 
obtained from Congress it perfected the schemes of the paper 
system and gave to its advocates the position they have struggled to 
obtain from the commencement of the Federal Government to the 
present hour. The immese capital and peculiar privileges bestowed 

. upon it enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in 
every part of the country. From its superior strength it could 
seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them 
which might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself 
the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. 
In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the 
power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at any time 
and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other 
banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general con- 
traction of the circulating medium, according to its own will. The 
other banking institutions were sensible of its strength, and they 
soon generally became its obedient instruments, ready at all times 
to execute its mandates; and with the banks necessarily went also 
that numerous class of persons in our commercial cities who depend 
altogether on bank credits for their solvency and means of business, 
and who are therefore obliged, for their own safety, to propitiate 


the favor of the paper money by distinguished zeal and devotion to ~ a 


its service. The result of the ill-advised legislation which establish- 
ed this great monopoly was to concentrate the whole moneyed 


HENRY A. WISE, 1806-1876 AND ANNE JENNINGS, 


Henry A. Wise, later Governor of Virginia, married Anne Jennings, daughter of Jackson's Presbyterian Pastor at Nashville and they spent their honeymoon at the Hermitage 
Their home was then in Nashville. The two portraits above were procured for the Author by Mrs. Tapley Portlock of Knoxville, a descendant of the Wise family. 


ANDREW JACKSON AND FaRLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 701 


power of the Union, with its boundless means of corruption and its 
numerous dependents, under the direction and command of one 
acknowledged head, thus organizing this particular interest as one 
body and securing to it unity and concert of action throughout the 
United States, and enabling it to bring forward upon any occasion 
its entire and undivided strength to support or defeat any measure 
of the Government. In the hands of this formidable power, thus 
perfectly organized, was also placed unlimited dominion over the 
amount of the circulating medium, giving it the power to regulate 
the value of property, and the fruits of labor in every quarter of the 
Union, and to bestow prosperity or bring ruin upon any city or sec- 
tion of the country as might best comport with its own interest or 
policy. 

“We are not left to conjecture how the moneyed power, thus 
organized and with such a weapon in its hands, would be likely to 
use it. The distress and alarm which pervaded and agitated the 
whole country when the Bank of the United States waged war upon 
the people in order to compel them to submit to its demands can 
not yet be forgotten. The ruthless and unsparing temper with 
which whole cities and communities were oppressed, individuals 
impoverished and ruined, and a scene of cheerful prosperity sud- 
denly changed into one of gloom and despondency ought to be 
indelibly impressed on the memory of the people of the United 
States. If such was its power in a time of peace, what would it not 
have been in a season of war, with an enemy at your doors? No 
nation but the freeman of the United States could have come out 
victorious from such a contest; and yet, if you had not conquered, 
the Government would have passed from the hands of the many to 
the hands of the few, and this organized money power from its 
secret conclave would have dictated the choice of your highest 
officers and compelled you to make peace or war, as best suited 
their own wishes. The forms of your Government might for a time 
have remained, but its living spirit would have departed from it. 

“The distress and suffering inflicted on the people by the bank 
are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually 
striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal Government beyond 
the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated in 
that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish 
such a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil 
consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of depart- 
ing from the true rule of construction and of permitting temporary 
circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to 
influence in any degree our decisions upon the extent of the author- 
ity of the General Government. Let us abide by the Constitution 
as it is written, or amend it in the constitutional mode if it is found 
to be defective. : 

“The severe lessons of experience will, I doubt not, be sufficient 
to prevent Congress from again charterng such a monopoly, even 
if the Constitution did not present an insuperable ob’ection to it. 


702 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 


But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance 
by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price 
if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to 
be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government. 
The power which the moneyed interest can exercise, when con- 
centrated under a single head and with our present system of 
currency, was sufficiently demonstrated in the struggle made by 
the Bank of the United States. Defeated in the General Govern- 
ment, the same class of intriguers and politicians will now resort to 
the States and endeavor to obtain there the same organization 
which they failed to perpetuate in the Union; and with specious 
and deceitful plans of public advantages and States interests and 
State pride they will endeavor to establish in the different States 


one moneyed institution with overgrown capital and exclusive | 


privileges sufficient to enable it to control the operations of the 
other banks. Such an institution will be pregnant with the same 
evils produced by the Bank of the United States, although its sphere 
of action is more confined, and in the State in whichitis chartered the 
money power will be able to embody its whole strength and to 
move together with undivided force to accomplish any object it 
may wish to attain. You have already had abundant evidence of 
its power to inflict injury upon the agricultural, mechanical, and 
laboring classes of society, and over those whose engagements in 
trade or speculation render them dependent on bank facilities the 
dominion of the States monopoly will be absolute and their obedi- 
ence unlimited. With such a bank and a paper currency the money 
power would in a few years govern the State and control its meas- 
ures, and if a sufficient number of States can be induced to create 


such establishments the time will soon come when it will again take 


the field against the Unites States and succeed in perfecting and 
perpetuating its organization by a charter from Congress. 

“It is one of the serious evils of our present system of banking 
that it enables one class of society—and that by no means a num- 
erous one—by its control over the currency, to act injuriously up- 
on the interests of all the others and to exercise more than its 
just proportion of influence in political affairs. The agricultural, 
the mechanical and the laboring classes have little or no share in 
the direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their 
habits and the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of form- 
ing extensive combinations to act together with united force. 
Such concert of action may sometimes be produced in a single city 
or in a small district of country by means of personal communica- 
tions with each other, but they have no regular or active corre- 
spondence with those who are engaged in similar pursuits in dis- 
tant places; they have but little patronage to give to the press, and 
exercise but a small share of influence over it; they have no crowd of 
dependents about them who hope to grow rich without labor by 
their countenance and favor, and who are therefore always ready 
to execute their wishes. The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE History 703 


and the laborer all know that their success depends upon their own 
industry and economy, and that they must not expect to become 
suddenly rich by the fruits of their toil. Yet these classes of society 
form the great body of the people of the United States; they are the 
bone and sinew of the country—men who love liberty and desire 
nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, moreover, hold 
the great mass of our national wealth, although it is distributed in 
moderate amounts among the millions of freemen who possess it. 
But with overwhelming numbers and wealth on their side they are 
in constant danger of losing their fair influence in the Government, 
and with difficulty maintain their just rights against the incessant 
efforts daily made to encroach upon them. The mischief springs 
from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper 
currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of cor- 
porations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in 
obtaining in the different States; and which are employed alto- 
gether for their benefit; and unless you become more watchful in 
your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for ex- 
clusive privileges you will, in the end find that the most important 
powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the 
control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of 
these corporations. 

“The paper money system and its natural associations—mon- 
opoly and exclusive privileges—have already struck their roots 
too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its 
further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by 
the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege 
the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the 
States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the 
public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety 
and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. 
In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, 
and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately respon- 
sible. It is always in your power to see that the wishes of the 
people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, when 
once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed; and while 
the people remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and in- 
corruptible, and continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the 
Government is safe, and the cause of freedom will continue to tri- 
umph over all its enemies. 

“But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your 
part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper 
system, and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which 
have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So 
many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that 
you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. 
My humble efforts have not been spared during my administra- 
tion of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of 
gold and silver, and something, I trust has been done toward the 


704 ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENN ESSEE HISTORY 


accomplishment of this most desirable object; but enough yet re- 
mains to require all your energy and perseverance. ‘The power, 
however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied 
if you determine upon it. 

‘‘While I am thus endeavoring to press upon your attention the 
principles which I deem of vital importance in the domestic con- 
cerns of the country, I ought not to pass over without notice the 
important considerations which should govern your policy toward 
foreign powers. It is unquestionably our true interest to cultivate 
the most friendly understanding with every nation and to avoid by 
every honorable means the calamities of war, and we shall best 
attain this object by frankness and sincerity in our foreign inter-, 
course, by the prompt and faithful execution of treaties, and by 
justice and impartiality in our conduct to all. But no nation, 
however desirous of peace, can hope to escape occasional collisions 
with other powers, and the soundest dictates of policy requre that 
we should place ourselves in a condition to assert our rights if a 
resort to force should ever become necessary. Our local situation, 
our long line of sea coast, indented by numerous bays, with deep 
rivers, opening into the interior, as well as our extended and still 
increasing commerce, point to the Navy as our natural means’ of 
defense. It will in the end be found to be the cheapest and most 
effectual, and now is the time, in a season of peace and with an 
overflowing revenue, that we can year after year add to its strength | 
without increasing the burden of the people. It is your true policy, 
for your Navy will not only protect your rich and flourishing com- 
merce in distant seas, but will enable you to reach and annoy the 
enemy and will give to defense its greatest effeciency by meeting 
danger at a distance from home. It is impossible by any line of 
fortification to guard every point from attack against a hostile 
force advancing from the ocean and selecting its object, but they 
are indispensible to protect cities from bombardment, dockyards 
and naval arsenals from destruction to give shelter to merchant 
vessels when pressed by superior force. Fortifications of this 
description can not be too soon completed and armed and placed in 
a condition of the the most perfect preparation. The abundant 
means we now possessed can not be applied in any manner more 
useful to the country, and when this is done and our naval force 
sufficiently strengthened and our militia armed we need not fear 
that any nation will wantonly insult us or needlessly provoke hostil- 
ities. We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is understood 
that we have prepared for war. 

“In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these parting coun- 
sels, I have brought before you the leading principles upon which I 
endeavored to administer the Government in the high office with 
which you twice honored me. Knowing that the path of freedom is 
continually beset by enemies who often assume the disguise of 
friends, I have devoted the last hours of my public life to warn you 
of its dangers. The progress of the United States under our free 


ANDREW JACKSON AND EARLY TENNESSEE HISTORY 705 


and happy institutions has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of 
the founders of the Republic. Our growth has been rapid beyond 
all former examples in numbers, in wealth, in knowledge, and all 
the useful arts which contribute to the comforts and convenience of 
man, and from the earliest ages of history to the present day there 
never have been thirteen millions of people associated ip one politi- 
cal body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people 
of these United States. You have no longer cause to fear danger 
from abroad; your strength and power are well known throughout 
the civilized world, as well as the high and gallant bearing of your 
sons. It is from within, among yourselves—from cupidity, from 
corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for 
power—that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is 
against such designs, whatever disguise the actors may assume, 
that you have especially to guard yourselves. You have the highest 
of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered 
on this favored land blessings without number, and has chosen 
you as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the 
human race. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of 
nations make you worthy of the favors He has bestowed and enable 
you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to 
guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He has com- 
mitted to your keeping. 

“My own race is nearly run; advanced age and failing health 
warn me that before long I must pass beyond the reach of human 
affairs. I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty 
and that He has given me a heart to love my country with the 
affection of ason. And filled with gratitude for your constant and 
unwavering kindness, I bid you a last and affectionate farewell.”’ 


INDEX VOLUME 3 


Page 
PES BSEDIOYS WE Coe ER GAEDE I me geen fp oy thee ep 2 te Be 139 
Petr Eee hie os riper 0! ul oc. |. re ta ah Ts ue RA eee 178 
EDeas Nan MPEGS RRATEND (22 ot ek, Se ae 211 
BAe Os KANG MOUNTAIN) 20 oe o7e5 Bee i Fis ee 29-49 
BaTTLe oF NEw ORLEANS, 656-678; celebration of, and of peace for 
one hundred years between United States and Great Britain, 656; 
program of ceremonies, 657-662; oration of Samuel M. Wilson, of 
POOwiiy bait heen Ue kenge nn oh 9 ke 1 =) See 662-678 
BANCROFT, GEORGE, estimate of Jackson__________________________ 678 
LULA Ry) En ote 5 Ae 2S Sed TO Re Se See eee aes Pete Eh 597 
BENTON, THomas H., estimate of Randolph, 468; of Jackson_______ 678 
cepetataT ChE NOEENTEIVIEE THER SONS! Set ER ee A ee. 597 
RISERS IT REL TEPLRE oe tee. 68) 2 Ee Lae ee Ee SE eee ee 137 
2 2a LET ad (OTE 2 oiaey oe aR Ns a Pere eae ee Ba EE La 212 
Brown.Low, W. G., 8; 203-226; life and travels__________ Wiemann yy 727 
RarBEREISPESEESEES- POTEN, Fe? = 0 a Ny er ele 8 es Ee ee 210 
SEELEY SECO a eat © Ea a ee ee ape ey Oe eaare eC someon Seema Bed 156-158 
Pepe Rear re niet 22 See oc gk 2 i ee PELs LR ete J See ee ee 281 
DIREL OVER CRHOMAG ET) = te Oe ee ae i Oe ee ee ee 212 
SUsECALA DIR Gina) feel 2 tl) 5! See eee, eee 163-164 
Geenecr HOUNDATION OF NEW YORK... ~~ 2-2 22 135 
OL 2 A Ta ee te de eee OR ees ae 23 
Grav H-. resolution of Censure on Jackson___-_-.._---- 22 4.=+.--. 432 
OLTIV a. [GELS TS eg) 2 Cee tle Oe Se eee Cannot saree ae 92 ere 196-199 
TREE 6 TSE ee eee Seam ee ne Eee Es! 2 199-200 
BE erties IVE oem nen weer 2 UP he ee 201 
Court MarTIAL OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER 93-115; debate on 
Golise wartial, O37 Gem Boe. Gaines... 2 7 WE eee ee 94 
Proceieris DAVE, letter om yackson™ |. 22: 2 a eee 18 
Dic AH RVEKe PIA VID fins et |. A ee ee 123 


DECLARATION OF WAR BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN__ 14 


#4 
798 . INDEX VOL. 3. 
“Page 
DEPEYSTIER, ABRAHAM 223422. 0.4 15S 300 28S ee 29, 
DICKINSON AND JACKSON DUEL _!..-.--=--.+----.__ +. ee 282-283 
DONELSON, Mrs. Berit M._ 22-2) ee Eee ae 
DONELSON, ANDREW JACKSON. --- 20020 0) 220 ee : 2730am 


Dovuc.Lass, STEPHEN A., Inauguration of Mill’s Statue of Andrew 
Jackson, in Washington, 562; oration by Stephen A. Douglass____ 564-573 . 
Dromcoois, Wit, ALLEN__.- 2 eee 27-28 a 
EaTON, JOHN H., 80; resigns as Secetary of War, 336; Jackson to 
Eaton, 337; Eaton to Ingham, 338; Ingham to Eaton, 339, 145, 
147, 150, 151, 152, 155, 162, 172, 173, appeal to the public in reply 


to Ingham, Branchand Berrien... =. ._-.— 597-638 
Harty RELIGIOUS HistorY OF TENNESSEE ---.--------=-=22252-2226 214 
Fire, JupGr Jown A.___-_.-.------ 4.22. 2 ee 550, 
Foster, EpHRIAM H., 639 655: correspondence with Committee, 639; 

funeral oration on occasion of obsequies of Henry Clay_________- 639) 
GALES AND SaAtoN . Ue Une" dhexeculsecltl 79) a 


GALLAHER, REv. JAMES, knew Jackson personally and gives opinion 
of him, 679-689; Gallaher a pioneer preacher of Tennessee and 


Kentucky, 679; author of ‘“Ihe Western Sketch Book’”’__________ 679 4 
GIBBONS, CARDINAL, JAMES. 2. 5-225. 25-5. J eee 50-51 
GRAVES, J. Rei t2h 222 20 she. Se es ee 203 
GREEN, DUFR2. =. {o23- -25- 3 ee ee re 160 
GREEN, Corn Danebi 220000 e ee 127 4 : 
GREELY, HORACE. --4 2-4-2. 5 5 213 ; 
GRUNDY, FELIX. --_ 2-02) 2 155 
Hama Ton,, Js Avs 2: 3.3. a eee Sek 165 
HAMILTON, J., Ja Ree eee J 166 
Harris, [SHAM G2 S02 a ce 212 
Hart, W."O4 Oration on Jacksony 222 54-220 592 ; 4 
Bart, Mins. W002. 06 SCR Ue ee a 574-575 
Haves, Mrs! Wo a. 0! NU 59am 


FAVES, (ROBBERY :.2 215020 EN Aaa eT a To 139 ; 
Hawes; ANRRE W882. 0. ISL 2 aie Late eae eee, a 140m 
avis, SaAMUnn JS 22 <2 eae 3 ce a ee ge 

iavNe ALP, os eye ee 2 ee 162 


INDEX VOL. 3. 709 


Page 
LBUBTSIOD) ep NNPOGW UNAS IN UN ee ee Pe we 212 
RANT eR ORM REY meaner | et ot aoe ee 165 
EEO WARE DERICK tL6.) 2000 se es a 212-219 
TAGUMES MGOVERNORME pes. 2 Lee ee eee ee 138 


Houston, SAm, 159, 346-364; invited to public dinner in Nashvile, 
347; declines, 348; speech before Congress in the Stanberry matter 349 


HUGHES, FE. W., Letters on the Boone Tree________-__.____2____ 2. 20-21 
“BUTE LIS SURGERY 16 Um Wate ie eed REN a vee Me eae ees 57 
Settee MNT OTS Ve seman IR Ss Ue Re 123 
EAPICHING | ANDRE We JACKSONG 2 s2 580 4 2). Son. hee ee ee 200-201 


INGHAM, Branch and Berrien in Maj. Eaton’s appeal to the Public, 
597 and following Pee Oy eee ee ac eae MEE Po. 2 80 

JACKSON’S resignation from the United States Senate, 62; Jackson 
on the Tariff, 69; Jackson on a ‘‘Military Chieftain,’ 72; Jack- 
son’s letter declining mission to Mexico, 76; Andrew Jackson and 
James Monroe’s correspondence, 78--92; Poem on, 181, 185, 186; 
letter to his wife and son, 286-291; Poem on, 181, 185, 186; cabi- 
nets, 293; first inaugural address, 293; bank veto, 295; second in- 
augural address, 311; message on Texas and Mexico, 313; reads 
paper to the Cabinet on removal of the deposits, 416; Thomas 
Benton’s view of the removal, 417; protest on the Senate’s resolu- 
tion of censure for such removal, 432; Senate declines to enter 
protest on the journal, 432; full text of the protest, 432-456; let- 
ters beginning in 1833 to and from Jackson, 517-561 (these letters 
are from Gen. William Carroll, Gen. John Coffee, Alfred Balch, 
Felix Grundy, Maj. H. Lee, Richard Rush, R. B. Taney, Rev. A. 
D. Campbell, and from Jackson to Hugh Lawson White, Francis 
P. Blair, Samuel J. Hayes); origin of Jackson’s statue at New 
Orleans and the Chalmette Monument, 573, 574, 575; letter from 
Franklin Pierce, President of the United States, in reference to 
the inauguration of the monuments, 576; program of the dedica- 
tion of the monuments, 578; oration of L. J. Siger at dedication, 
583; address of Clark Mills, 590; Jackson’s farewell address, 690- 
705; retires from the Presidency March 4, 1837____-_-_------------ 690 

Jackson, RACHEL DONELSON, 187, 188; Poem on, 189; vindication of._ 190-195 


ARINAGINS SPENCER wana wee De. i So Sea eee 123 


KGNG. AMmo. Wetter tonjohnesevier. .-5-5-2 25) 22 Ee ee ee 16 


710 INDEX VoL. 3. 


Kwnoxyvni..e£, Aldermen of, on death of Mrs. Andrew Jackson. ni 
-Leonarp, Mrs. Saran W. N., Letter on Religion of John soviee! 
LEONARD, Miss Myre, Letter on the Boone Tree_________ wey 
LETIERS TO AND FROM ANDREW JACKSON____________-___-_- peel: 
Lewis, May.W, BU 
Linco_n, ABRAHAM, letter to Horace Greeley______________ oe i 
MayNarD, Horacg i.) ; 
MAYNarD, JAMES, letters oe a 
McKENDREE Capron 


McLemore, JOHN C 


Saya 


MERRIWEATHER, GEN. Day. 22.2... a 
Monroe, JAMES, and Andrew Jackson’s correspondence._._------ 
MPORRE Me MTORIN CS (EU Sele Baits SA es eer lee ahah ae 
NELSON, (1. AL Rie SORES eI Oe ee me 
NETHERLAND ORIN 2 es fs ie PA call aa 
NorMENT, Rev. W. M.2!0 000) uso 


Nortu Caroiina Act or Cgssion of the Territory of Tennessee, 9; 4 
Protest Against Cession! 3) 202 Plea mits, 


NULuFIcATION. Oridnance of South Carolina, 366; Address to the 
people of the United States, 368; nullification proclamation DY tye 
Jackson, 378; inaugural address of Gov. Haney on nullification, 
395; proclamation of Goy. Hayne on nullification _-____________ 

O’NeEat, Peccy, 318-345; her family history, 319; Edward Coate 
Pinkney’s toast to her, 320; visits Washington from New York; 
statement of National Republican, 324; story of her life, 325 sat i i 
the age of 75, 333; Rev. E.S Ely and Rev. J.N. Campbell in 
Eaton controversy, 334; Martin Van Buren on the ‘‘Eaton Ma- — 
laria,’”’ 335; death, 335; supported by Andrew Jackson_________- sae 


OVERTON;) JOB 2/2 Cie Pei OM rE) ei Nn ON la 
PAYNE, JOHN HowarpD, 116; arrest of, 117; address to citizens of | 
Georgia, 122; offered public entertainment at Knoxville, 122 
public meeting at Knoxville on arrest, 123; letter to his sister, — 
125; accottnt of ‘Creek Indian Dances) 4... eee 
POINDEXTER; (GHEORGHE) igi oii Sen yo a a ; 


PRENTICE, (Ces) 2a Dea) 0 2 ae eather 


INDEX VOL. 3. 


Pryne, REv. ABRAM, Public discussion with Brownlow in Philadel- 


RANDOLPH, JOHN, Minister to Russia, 461; Randolph to Jackson, 463; 
Jackson to Randolph, 463;peculiarities, 466; Benton’s estimate of 


REGISTER, KNOXVILLE, editorial on death of Mrs. Jackson, 187; 
refutation of charges on, 190; publishes Houston’s speech in full, __ 


RE, SENATOR James A., speech on Champe Clark_______________- 
Rei, Major Joun, letter on visit to Mount Vernon_______________ 
MES CRE pes. Rams Pegs Se ee tee a ee, A es 


eabinthsy (ROR EZENSIAVAS Re AN tek tee te SS Ot ae ae ee oe 


mars: (Ori CHeTOKCEe nick 8 53) ee a ee eS 


LOD EAN aT Sg rr ela SSS NE Dee AES pe oe Se eee iy Se gh Sit og 2 


En ee TINNED BAU eee oe TRL, IY Nei ae i hs ee ee ae poe 
CEE Cola 3 O87 757) 1 ee a aI eM Oc 
OLE SEC og) 71 pas tae ee re ee eee We ew eros S WES ieee Sa 
Pemurtantene Amandine.) RE Re el Beep i 
‘TENNESSEE, early religous history of______-_--____--_--__---__-_- 


‘THANKS oF ConGRESS to Jackson and his command________ ee 


Van Buren, Martin, Chapter on, 457-487; autobiography, 457; in- 
troduction to same, 459; letters to Jackson, 459, 460, 461; appoint- 
tent of Randolph, 461; his account of, 462; Jackson to Randolph, 
463; Randolph’s reply on his appointment, 463; Van Buren anal- 
yzes Randolph’s peculiarities, 466; Van Buren’s motive in pro- 
curing appointment of Randolph, 469; appointed as Secetary of 
State, 470; his account of same, 470; resignation as Secetary of 
State, 472; Jackson’s acceptance of the resignation, 474; Van 
Buren’s confirmation for Minister to England rejected by the 
Senate, 476; Cambreling to Van Buren, 477; Van Buren to Cam- 
breling, 478; inaugural tribute to Jackson, 479; Edward M. Shep- 
hard’s summary of Van Buren, 480; charge of intrigue against Van 
Buren, 481; Senator Forsyth on Van Buren, 432; orders Surgeon 
General of the Army to accompany Jackson on his way to the 
Hermitage, 483; Van Buren in Texas, 484, Candidate of the Free 
Soil Party, for ,President, 485; death, 485; Abraham Lincoln, 


711 


Page 


217 
160 


463 


117 


276-277 


204 


712 ‘INDEX VoL. 3. 

Jage 

President, gives public notice of his death, 486; Secetary of the 

Navy orders the Executive Departments placed in mourning, 487; 

letters to and from Martin Van Buren, 488, 515; the letters are 

from Andrew Jackson, Isaac Hill, C. C. Cambreling, and two 

are from Van Buren to Jackson___-_----___________ = 
WESEY, Jj. o ot ee ee , 58 
" Warpo) HowaARD= 2.222 =>. to oe oe we ee 54 
Weabock, THomas A.B. 2 22 2 ee ee EE eee 23 
WEBSTER, DANIEL, on Jackson__.....--.--___.._.4. 183 
Ware, Hues LAWSON, 175... .-2----2---2 22-2 eee 176-178 
WILSON, WOODROW .2--------2-----+2--<44-- ee 677 
Wiicok, SARAH DONELSON JACKSON._-_.___=_-2__ 553) ee 273-286 
WhaiaMs, Co.. JOHN Js:.2-.-2-2-L)-541 2 ee eee 212 
WILLIAMS, S.22 fede a ee 136 


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